Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust

Minutes of the 11th Annual General Meeting of the Board of Trustees and Associate Members held in the Kings Head, Masham on Thursday 3thMarch, 2016

Attendance and Apologies

Trustees present
Lord Masham (President)
A Brown (Chair & Acting Secretary)
F Broughton
D Hartley (Treasurer)
A Lawson
T Orde-Powlett
C Ryder
J Roberts / Trustees apologies
R Brown
A Fallows
A Hunter-Smart
P O’Brien
Associate Members
C Bourne-Arton
MBroadwith
N Buck
J Burton
P Dean
R Featherstone
M Grace
R Hall
R Harrison-Topham
G Hodgson
D Hoyle
D Millward
R Nicholls
T Percival
A Roberts
B Sawyer
JShillcock
B Towers
J Watson
P Wrigley / Associate Members apologies
P Angus
Professor C Beddows
C Bilsborough
R Bourne-Arton
A Newstead
H Scrope
Guests
Jeremy Walker (Speaker)
Steve Rose (Speaker)
DBamford (UST)
OLeatham (UST)
A Lord (UST)
M Lord (UST)
I Harrison-Topham (UST)
Trust Officers
D Turner
C Pearson
R Mercer / Trust Officer apologies

Welcome

The Chair of Trustees AndyBrown, opened the meeting at 8.15 pm by welcoming everybody. The meeting was preceded by a well-attendedMembers Evening with three excellent talks. Apologies from Trustees were read out and the full attendance list and apologies is provided above.

A1/16 Minutes of the AGM held 4 March 2015

The minutes from the previous AGM were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chair as proposed by C Bourne-Arton and seconded by T Orde-Powlett.

A2/16 Matters arising from the minutes

No matters arising from the previous AGM were raised.

A3/16 Chairman’s report on the previous year

In his report on the past year the Chair highlighted the following:

  • This has been another busy year for the Trust.
  • We continued to undertake practical habitat improvement work at Bishopdale Beck which is one of the most important tributaries of the River Ure for spawning salmon. Over the three years of this project 2.6 km of bankside fencing has been completed, over 5000 trees planted and 125 m of bankside protection installed to reduce erosion. We also ran a series of education days for children with learning difficulties from Yorkshire Secondary High School and these were really appreciated by the school and the children. More recently an interpretation board has been installed alongside a well-used footpath. The Board contains information on the project, highlighting particular issues and the kind of things you might see in Bishopdale Beck.The final project report was submitted and the Trust has highlighted that further work is required particularly some more riparian habitat creation and advisory work.
  • Similar habitat improvement work also continued on the River Wharfe. This was focused on the SSSI and was funded by Environment Agency and Natural England. There is still a lot of work to do on the Wharfe and we are currently looking for further funding to develop a strong partnership project and to develop a prioritised plan for the upper catchment that takes an integrated approach and delivers a number of objectives.
  • We have been working on the River Laver which has 8 BAP priority species – eel, bullhead, salmon, otter, water vole, white-clawed crayfish, river and brook lamprey. But the river is classed as failing under the Water Framework Directiveas a result of diffuse pollution and there is low fish diversity because of the obstructions to fish passage. Work was funded by the Environment Agency to reduce source of diffuse pollution and another project mainly funded by Yorventure removed a disused weir that was an important barrier to fish passage. This was a very significant project but it is only one of several weirs that need attention. Unfortunately despite initial support Yorventure was unable to fund years 2 and 3 of the project and so additional funds are required to remove or modify the next couple of weirs. Some funding has already been secured so keep your eye on this and we may well be back on the Laver over the next 12 months.
  • There has been some interest in re-meandering part of the River Cover that had been straightened and deepened many years ago. This kind of work to change a modified river back to a more natural system is highly complex and expensive but it can have dramatic benefits not just for fish and other wildlife but also benefits to communities downstream as you heard in the talks about Natural Flood Management. Some initial work is underway to research and model the effects of putting the river back into its original meanders. This is being done by Leeds University. We have also done a bit of in-stream improvement by installing large woody debris. This increases habitat diversity and can also contribute to slowing the flow.
  • During the year we increased the number of opportunities for our growing band of volunteers and we have now appointed a volunteer coordinator who is a volunteer himself! Our volunteers make a vital contribution and they efforts are much appreciated by all of us.
  • We also increased the number of educational activities. A very successful Art Exhibition on the theme of rivers was organized jointly with the Swaledale Festival and involved school children from six local schools. A professional artist, Nora Yates, assisted the schools and the artwork was of a high standard and was displayed at Tennants Auction House in Leyburn alongside specially commission photographs by David Tarn on the theme of rivers. At the same time the Black Dyke Band played a new piece of music on rivers. Most recently we acquired a river education table. This is a table containing special plastic sand that can be modeled into any river channel through which we can pump water to simulate the basic principles of river behavior. It is an ideal education and outreach tool which can be used with any age group, but it is also sophisticated enough to investigate the effects of physical modification of rivers, for example, deepening a river by dredging, constricting flows though culverts, channel straightening, building bridges, inserting culverts or installing bank protection. It is portable and we are currently using it to engage with primary school children.
  • The Trust has continued to host the Catchment Partnership covering the Swale, Ure, Nidd and Upper Ouse catchment and the Wharfe and Lower Ouse catchment. The partnership is now called the Dales to Vale River Network. Through the year the network has consolidated its identity and position. The Project Board was expanded to include Natural England and Yorkshire Water Services – two key partner organisations. Three partners meetings were held with regular email updates/newsletters between times. The Network has also developed contacts with key researchers at Newcastle and Leeds Universities. A very successful event was held in December jointly with the National Trust on Natural Flood Management at Fountains Abbey.
  • During the year a third member of staff was recruited to help deliver a new project on the River Swale funded by the Environment Agency Catchment Partnership Action Fund. A volunteer coordinator was recruited to help train and manage a group of volunteers to do catchment walkover surveys. These allow us to pinpoint exactly where projects such as bank erosion, fencing and tree planting need to be done. A Catchment Restoration Plan was been completed and we are now on track to spend £41K on a series of improvements to the river.
  • A new project on Hambleton Beck, also funded by the Catchment Partnership Action Fund, was initiated, but due to circumstances beyond our control the project did not proceed. A replacement project on Collingham Beck was agreed and specific projects will be underway shortly.
  • The partnership has also stimulated work on the River Tutt and the River Wiske both of which are led by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
  • Various new projects are under development. One of the more advanced is the Wensleydale Project, developed jointly with the National Park. The overall strategy for this project has been prepared and we are now running community engagement events and starting to bid for funding under the umbrella of the overall project. Links with community groups in Collingham, South Milford and Brompton have been made and have started initial work to set up projects.

A4/16 Treasurer’s report and accounts

The Treasurer gave the financial report. The accounts for the year ended 30th September 2015 have been auditedby Northallerton and District Voluntary Community Accounting Service and the Annual Report and Financial Statements are just being finalised. The Report will be circulated to all Trustees when completed and it will be posted on our web site.The Report will also be forwarded with returns to Companies House and the Charities Commission.

Incoming funds for the year were £151,948, predominantly grants for projects undertaken on behalf of the Environment Agency and others. This is a little down on the previous year. Our outgoings for the year were £176,825. Some expenditure was carried over from the previous year and a balancing transfer was made from unrestricted funds. A transfer back to unrestricted funds will be made when all the projects funds have been received for projects started but not completed in the financial year.

A breakdown of project expenditure was provided. And 86% of expenditure was from restricted funds. The three largest areas of expenditure were the River Laver, The Dales to Vale River Network and the River Wharfe.

The closing balance for the year in our two accounts was £88,611.

A5/16 Election of new Trustees

Two new Trustees were recruited during the year – Angus Hunter-Smart is a private client partner at Wrigleys Solicitors LLP in Leeds. He has many clients throughout the Dales and is a keen angler. Jamie Roberts manages Kilnsey Park Estate and has spent most of his career developingand delivering conservation projects. Both Trustees were duly elected as proposed by C Bourne-Arton and seconded by C Percival.

A6/16 Proposal to merge the Ure Salmon Trust and Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust

The Chair introduced this item and reminded everybody of the background to this proposal. It had been explored at length by Trustees and by UST Directors on a number of occasions over the last year. The Trustees had concluded that in principle it is desirable and agreed that given it was a significant change it should be raised with members to take account of their views. A joint UST/YDRT letter had been sent to all members outlining the proposal, explaining the intended benefits and inviting them to make any comments or ask any questions they wished. The letter also advised them that it would be discussed at this AGM.

The Chair ran quickly through the background to remind everybody of the differences and common ground between UST and the YDRT. He also explained that one of the main drivers for this change from an YDRT perspective was the very large geographical area covered by the Trust and that the establishment of groups for each of our main rivers had the potential to increase grassroots involvement. He highlighted that one of the points of difference with UST was that they undertook salmon stocking and we did not. He then invited Dave Bamford from UST to give a presentation to explain their approach to salmon stocking. The presentation can be found on our web site. Tom Orde-Powlett made a few comments on behalf of UST and highlighted that UST had undertaken many of the same kind of practical conservation and river management projects that YDRT had undertaken and that whilst salmon had provided a focus for the UST they were equally interested in the wider ecology of the river.

The Chair then invited comments and questions from the floor and the following key points were raised:

  • A question was raised as to whether this change would require a change in the Memorandum and Articles of the Trust. The Chair confirmed that it could be done without any changes.
  • Concern was expressed that there was little evidence that salmon stocking was beneficial and some evidence that it could be damaging. In response Dave Bamford suggested that the evidence was not actually that clear cut. There was certainly evidence that the old approaches and methods of stocking could be damaging, but that did not apply to the current approach to the Ure which was using local broodstock with rearing in semi-natural smolt ponds that feed naturally into the river. The Chair advised that the stocking was licensed by the Environment Agency and that we are very much in their hands. He also emphasized that the YDRT took pride in being guided by the best available science and evidence and that we would wish to review the situation at some point in the future as it was essential to ensure that all money was being used wisely for our charitable purposes.
  • Salmon stocking was opposed in principle by some members and could be damaging to the reputation of the Trust. The Chair replied that he felt our membership was very mixed and that there would be some opposition and some support for stocking. This was part of the reason for giving members the opportunity to discuss and comment on the proposal.
  • A question was raised about how the proposal would impact on volunteers. The Chair replied that he thought there would be very little impact on volunteers. There would be a slightly bigger pool of volunteers as UST also have a number of volunteers and they have helped out with various tasks at the hatchery and smolt ponds and they would continue to do so in the future. The YDRT as a whole seeks to match volunteers to the kinds of tasks that they like doing and to ensure they are appropriately trained and equipped. No volunteers would be asked to do things that they would not like to do.
  • A concern was that the creation of some kind of branch/local group structure would be difficult for the Trust to manage and may stretch its capacity to manage effectively. The Chair advised that the intention was only to create one group for each of our main rivers so there would be a maximum of five. They needed to be set up in a way that ensured they increased our overall capacity to deliver our charitable objectives and must not be unnecessarily bureaucratic or expensive to run.
  • Concern was expressed that this would lead to riparian owners looking after their own interests or the Trust becoming dominated by angling interests. The Chair pointed out that any groups that were established could only exist to help deliver the charitable objectives of the Trust and that these would not change. Any local group would have to operate under an agreed Terms of Reference and would have to follow the policies and procedures of the Trust. He also said that the Trust would continue to ensure that there was a mix of Trustees appointed that provided a broad range of expertise and represented different interests.Ultimately decision-making rested with the Trustees and this would not change.
  • Several people said that anglers and riparian owners were as passionate about the general health of the river and ecology of the river as they were about angling.
  • It was pointed out that according to our Memorandum and Articles the only decision-making powers rested with Trustees and they should now be left to make the final decision. The Chairconfirmed that this was correct but said because he was aware of different views he was not comfortable pursuing this proposal without allowing the members to express their views and it was helpful to gauge the overall balance of opinion.

Following the discussion the Chair asked for a show of hands and stressed that this was for YDRT members only. This indicated about two- thirds in favour of the proposal and about a third against. This was confirmed by the Treasurer.

In conclusion the Chair thanked everybody for a full and frank discussion. It had had been very useful to hear the arguments for and against the change and to answer the many questions raised. The concerns raised needed to be considered carefully by Trustees as they work through and develop the proposal in more detail. Some of the issues were complex and sensitive and needed to be handled with care. The intention was now to do this and to keep members, staff and volunteers informed of progress.

A7/16Date of the next Annual General Meeting

The Chair proposed that the next AGM would be held on 2 March 2017. The venue to be decided.

The meeting closed at 21.35

Andy Brown

7 March 2016

Signed

Chairman