Dont Trust Them

River trusts, this is what is left of the leat (mill stream) above Powick weir on the river Teme. This small water course was previously home to fish of most species and all the underwater life that lives in this type of environment now destroyed, imo its criminal damage.

The Severn rivers trust promised 3 years ago that this would not happen during work on removing part of the weir to supposedly allow better access to the river for fish ( but they have done it anyway the leat has been totally blocked off,) fish that have managed previously to get above the weir very nicely thank you.

Its a disgrace that this small ecological environment has been destroyed in the chase for European money by the trust and the EA.

b@stards, another little magical place gone.

Rarely do I agree with the Crow but on this one I do! It's happening up and down the country with "River Trusts" Do not for one minute believe that RTs have "fishing interests" at their heart, they don't! Fishing interests are secondary at best to their interests. It's all about the "River" and it's total integrity, and if fishing interests get in the way of that, then they'll walk all over them.

Why it's happening is because the Government was given a sum of money to meet the EU Water Framework Directive on instream obstacles. All of that money has to be spent by the end of March 2019 or it will have to be given back to the EU as we will no longer be a member. The Govt is now in a panic and a rush to get it spent and projects are being brought forward without proper scrutiny and/or evaluation of them.

I don't know whether in these cases the RTs are getting a Management Fee for managing the projects or not, but this is usually a general practice within the Charity Sector when delivering a service/project on behalf of someone else with grant money. That Fee can be between 5-12% of the total cost of the project.

As Anglers and when dealing with RTs, we I believe, must be, and become more circumspect about the motives.

I don't know geography of the area that well although I did fish at Bransford once from the road bridge to the railway bridge. Everyone warned that a drop in levels would happen, but as I warned at the time, the EA will always take the cheapest, easiest option whatever the consequences. I now see that anglers are complaining that the levels have dropped at Bransford bridge, so hardly surprising. It's no wonder that one former EA Area Fisheries Manager refers to them as the "Anti-Environment Agency".

The bad one said:

All of that money has to be spent by the end of March 2019 or it will have to be given back to the EU as we will no longer be a member.

Click to expand...

20 Million pounds.

There is a BBC news clip on the Powick FB page that says that the £20 millions came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, so I am now confused.

Peter Jacobs said:

There is a BBC news clip on the Powick FB page that says that the £20 millions came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, so I am now confused.

Click to expand...

Peter the money I refer to was, and is EU money,as I was at a humdinger of a meeting with the EA and a RT last week where it was stated that if the money (don't know how much there was in the national pot) wasn't spent before end of March 2019 it has to be paid back. Whether the Powick weir money (all or some of it) was part of it I can't say as it was never discussed.

Here is the link which clearly states it was Lottery Money . . . . . as stated by the chap from the Trust.

Even if it were from the EU then it is not necessarily a requirement to spend it prior to the UK leaving . . . . it would qualify as a surviving obligation which would probably be guaranteed, especially in the case of a transitional period being agreed.

Work started at Powick Weir in Worcester... - BBC Hereford & Worcester

Peter Jacobs said:

There is a BBC news clip on the Powick FB page that says that the £20 millions came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, so I am now confused.

Click to expand...

Cant find that on there, there is a post that says the money came from the EU, lottery and Natural England, regardless of where the money came from this act undertaken at Powick weir should never have been allowed.

The link is in my post above.

Regardless, I do agree that the drying out of the side steam should not have happened.

Peter Jacobs said:

The link is in my post above.

Click to expand...

It wouldn't open for me I'm afraid, just another gremlin of the "new" site