Wear Catchment Pilot

Communications and Engagement Plan

1.0 Background

The Wear pilot is one of 25Defra sponsored pilots to test how successful working in partnership can be to deliver the outcomes of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The pilot consists of 15 rivers in the Wear Catchment, located around Durham. The15 water bodies in the Wear pilot were selected because they are less than good status/potential, have complex issues, are in areas of mixed land use and include a mix of affluent and deprived areas.

2.0 Aim

The aim of the Wear Pilot is that by 2020, Durham’s rivers will run clear, teeming with wildlife and be enjoyed by all.

2.1 Supporting aims

To support the above statement, we want to:

  • Overcome barriers to access to enable people to enjoy a healthy water environment
  • Gain an understanding of relevant current activity in the area and what local people want to see improved about their rivers
  • Engaging local businesses and residents to help them understand the impacts of their actions on water quality and how they can change these
  • Increase the number of volunteers working on relevant projects in the area
  • Work with others to gain a clear understanding of how to improve water quality in each of the water bodies
  • Identify priority actions to improve water quality in each of the water bodies
  • Improve the range and quantity of fish and eel stocks in the River Wear and its tributaries
  • increase wildlife and native habitats in line with Durham BiodiversityAction Plan and other strategies to address water quality and non-native species
  • Identify opportunities where land management and land use change has a beneficial effect on the water environment

3.0 Stakeholder analysis

Steering group / GroundworkNE
Wear Rivers Trust
Durham Wildlife Trust
Northumbrian Water Ltd
Natural England
Forestry Commission
DurhamUniversity
Durham County Council - TBC
Media / The Journal
The Evening Chronicle
The Northern Echo
The Durham Advertiser
The Durham News
The Herald & Post
BBC Radio Newcastle
Real Radio
Metro Radio
Smooth Radio
BBC Radio Tees
Look North/ ITV Calendar
MPs & MEPs / Roberta Blackman-Woods, Durham MP
Helen Goodman, Bishop Auckland MP
Grahame Morris, Easington MP
Pat Glass, North West Durham MP
Phil Wilson, Sedgefield MP
Kevan Jones, North Durham MP
Bridget Phillipson, Houghton & Sunderland MP
Local Authorities / Durham County Council
Sunderland City Council
Elected Members
Wider stakeholder groups / National Farmers Union
Country Landowners Association
Angling Trust
Chester-Le-Street & District Angling Club + other clubs
Woodland Trust
Community representatives
Heart of Durham Partnership
Countryside Alliance
Sustrans
Tyne & Wear LEP
Transition Durham
Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group
English Heritage
Durham BAP
Durham Diocese
British Canoe Union
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers
Wild Trout Trust
Friends of HerringtonCountryPark
Tyne Angling Alliance
National Trust
North Pennines AONB
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Living Waterways
Limestone Landscapes Partnership
CountyDurham AAPs
Local residents / Depending on location of activity
Landowners / Nicholson family
Lambton Estate
Depending on location of activity

4.0 Key messages(taken from outcomes paper and main ‘themes’ outlined within this – this still needs further work to agree, determine actions & prioritise)

  • Water Quality (Minewater; Agricultural diffuse; Urban diffuse; Misconnections; Phosphates etc)
  • Fisheries (Physical barriers; habitat; poaching, continuing to improve salmon & sea trout stocks etc)
  • Biodiversity (More key wildlife; non-native species, habitat management, BAP habitat
  • Planning & Flood Resiliance (Promotion of GI –native woodland & wetlands; SuDS); Green Space & healthy living; multile benefits for water quality and overland flow

5.0 Action plan

Activity / Detail / By who / By when
Internal/External newsletter /
  • Raise awareness of Wear Pilot progress to Environment Agency and the wider stakeholder group attending the workshop.

Branding /
  • Develop pilot logo
  • Name for partnership
  • Agreed vision

PR /
  • Launch of consultation over catchment plan - ‘Wear Week’
  • Article(s) produced for LA publications, EA fisheries newsletter
  • Other free/low cost channels across partnership

Website /
  • GroundworkNE pilot mini-website - digital version of the catchment plan
  • Provide other digital content in a news feed on homepage?
  • Provide an area to host new content
  • Activity updates from projects
  • Plain English introduction to the project and the WFD context
  • Aim for at least one update per week
  • Steering group member guest blogs

Social media /
  • Use social media to build number of followers – spread word of mouth
  • Possible campaigns through social media – public sending evidence of pollution in Wear catchment via social media portals?
Twitter
  • Follow an officer for a day - officers take over the twitter feed for a day as they are out on incidents or patrolling with NWL etc.
  • Tweet new blog/web content
  • Encourage retweets from partners
  • Campaigns (TBC)
  • Find and follow key stakeholders and promote partnership to them
Flickr
  • Tell story of the wear catchment in images
  • Images are geographically tagged to show where projects are located
Facebook
  • Share content from across partnership
  • Campaigns as a result of partnership
Online mapping tools
  • Crowdmap
  • Huddle
  • Phone Apps (e.g. GWNE – Urban Oasis campaign, Ivan Dunn – Wild Watch app)
  • Other tools

Catchment plan consultation /
  • e-consultation tool on EA website
  • consultation engagement events across Lower Wear Pilot area
  • PR to promote consultation
  • Free channels across partnership
  • Local Authority publications

Targeted engagement /
  • Depending on what the evidence tells us – but for example pollution prevention work in industrial estates, misconnections campaigns on specific housing estates
  • Joint workshop planned with Transition Durham
  • Durham County Council workshop – opportunities mapping
  • Proposed Angling workshop with Angling Trust Regional Coordinator
  • ‘Wear Week’ event as part of launch of consukltation for catchment plan

Images /
  • Need a good stock of high resolution images of the River Wear (with iconic scenes around Durham), 15 water bodies (again iconic places people will recognise) and examples of the pollution problems identified on each water body.
  • For promotional purposes during events, on the website, promotional material etc

6.0 Evaluation

  • Media value of coverage
  • Unique visitors to Environment Agency website/Flickr/Facebook pages
  • Views of other social media pages
  • Followers on Facebook/Twitter
  • Feedback from internal Environment Agency teams