MESSAGE TO ALL PARTNER MEMBERS
The Trust has welcomed new partner members in the last month and I can report that we are now very representative of local councils and national and local groups, and all those who love our wonderful landscape. We can also now welcome individual supporters and more information on how to get involved can be found here.
Strategic plan now available.
A lot of work has gone into our Strategic Plan and this was discussed at our first open meeting for all our partner members held on Zoom in June. The final version has been published and can be found here. It is an ambitious plan and will of course be monitored regularly to check progress.
A victory for common sense.
After a very intense campaign by the Trust the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) has scrapped its plans for an elevated dual carriageway road across one of the most beautiful landscapes in the East of England (see Media). We need to celebrate all the hard work of our partner members and many individuals who have helped us achieve this great result. It has involved meetings with the Combined Authority, attendance at Board meetings, radio interviews, letter writing and lobbying at every opportunity. Since its inception the Trust has sought to ensure that we are not viewed simply as a NIMBY organisation. We are pleased that we have demonstrated the value of our landscape not just for local biodiversity, physical and mental health and climate change, but also for the economic success of the whole of Cambridgeshire. We want to help attract both tourists and the brightest and best to come and live in work in our county, which has less ‘natural’ landscape than any other rural county in the UK.
After this success we now have more time to move onto all the other important work identified in our Strategic Plan to ‘promote, protect and enhance the Great Ouse Valley.’
Our website has been well received. Please check out our new Sights and Sounds section and send us your contributions to help us demonstrate the fantastic variety of life in the Valley. We are looking to extend and improve our social media presence and are actively seeking expertise and advice in this area. If you think you can help and advise please be in touch.
Photograph by Keith Knight
A Green Woodpecker reflected in the sunset – a new entry in Sights and Sounds.
Other important projects
We continue to work with the County Council to improve and update the Ouse Valley Way long- distance footpath. Parishes will shortly be contacted to agree dates when contractors, assisted by volunteers, will install new way-marking posts. Detailed negotiations to re-route the footpath along the river bank to avoid Meadow Lane in St Ives are now advanced. Bridge repairs and new interpretation boards are also planned.
The large project to enhance landscape and biodiversity across the Commons between Huntingdon, Godmanchester and the Hemingfords, in response to the Woodland Trust initiative to ‘’cool the rivers’, progresses well. Our partners are the Godmanchester Freemen, Huntingdonshire District Council and the farmers, and we have received great support from the Environment Agency and Natural England. Following trial plantings last winter (see Media) we are hopeful that work can re-commence this coming winter.
There are many other initiatives underway in all parts of the valley from St Neots up to Earith and the Washes. All projects are inevitably affected by the pandemic. The availability of grants in the future remains a matter of concern but we are grateful for a donation of £333 from the Waitrose Community Matters scheme last month.
The Trust has the opportunity to build on what we have achieved in the last 18 months and work towards a major Landscape Partnership project for the whole Great Ouse Valley in the near future.
The scrapping of the Third River Crossing has shown what we can achieve if we all to work together. There are exciting times ahead.
Graham Campbell, July 2020
St Ives NOW! October-November 2020 article, the second of a regular column to appear in the latest NOW magazine.
We were invited to submit an article for the Civic Society's Annual Report and so our Chair, Graham Campbell, wrote the following:
Covers August, September and Part October.
Protecting the landscape
Our fight to scrap the third river crossing is now behind us. Our wonderful landscape is at the forefront of our local politician’s minds and the value of the valley is now acknowledged by all sides of the political divide. This gives us is an opportunity to really promote and enhance the landscape in the coming months.
The Government recently announced that it wants to extend by 30% the area of land with protected designation such as National Park, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty etc. It is now an ideal time to push Natural England to designate the Great Ouse Valley as an AONB with all the better protection that this would offer. This idea was first proposed by an enthusiastic local group in around 2014 but still no decision has been made.
Communicating with you
Our website has been getting plenty of hits in the last year. However, our Facebook page has had a number of issues. We realise how important it is to use social media efficiently and to this end we are pleased to welcome Zoe Ryall to manage our use more efficiently. We now have regular features in the Hunts Post and other local publications.
Current topics
Our second Zoom Partner Member meeting took place in September. There were two main topics for discussion. The first was the project to improve the Ouse Valley Way long- distant footpath through Cambridgeshire.
Photograph by Graham Campbell
A delightful section of the Ouse Valley Way with welcome resting place.
Volunteers from our Partner Members will be surveying their own stretch of the footpath. We need to identify where we need new posts and new way-marking signs. We will also be replacing the 20-year-old interpretation boards and hopefully putting in new ones along the route. We are working with the County Council on this project and are now delighted to be in discussion with Coral Walton, the graphic designer responsible for the original signage and boards. We now need the input of all our members to help provide ideas for the new boards.
The second item up for discussion at the last Partner Meeting was how the Trust should respond to the Government’s new White Paper on the reform of the planning process. This is a complicated issue. In order to get our members’ views we have created a short questionnaire available here to for you to complete, to ensure we get as many views as possible.
Funding application
The Trust has just made an application for a substantial grant from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund for the Great Ouse Valley Landscape and Biodiversity project. The project includes the Ouse Valley Way, the planting of new willow and black poplar trees along Cooks Stream, and the collection of data to help inform the work of the Trust in the future. If successful the Trust would appoint a Project Coordinator to manage the project. Our partner member, CPRE – the Countryside Charity, has kindly offered the joint use of their office in St Ives. This is a great example of how our Partner Members can work with us for mutual benefit.
Looking ahead
Many of our Partner Members attended the successful Zoom event organised by Natural Cambridgeshire that focussed on the Doubling Nature project. We hope to promote the recommended Parish Nature Recovery Toolkit in the future.
As we move into autumn, with all the limitations of the pandemic, it is comforting to live in an area where the benefits of the natural environment can still be enjoyed. We are all now much more aware of just how precious and valuable the landscape is to our local communities. Please keep in touch with us as we strive to make sure it remains so.
Graham Campbell, October 2020
Bridget Flanagan, Trustee of the Great Ouse Valley Trust, reflects on the recent revival of swimming in our river
 |
This article appeared in St Ives NOW! December 2020 - January 2021. The third of a regular series of stories 'Tales from the Riverbank', entitled 'Ancient Woods'.
Bridget Flanagan, Trustee of the Great Ouse Valley Trust, describes the unique appeal of its iconic features, past and present.
 |
Graham Campbell, Chair, describes the start of the Trust’s work on the Ouse Valley Way footpath. Please note the original article submitted was cut in order to fit the Hunts Post space available. The original version is available for downloading below.
|
|
The Trust has had a very active start to the year. Spring is here and everyone is now so aware of the wonderful landscapes that we have in our area. It’s the best place to live - and yet could be so much better still.
Improving the Ouse Valley Way
Our OVW long-distance footpath team has been working flat out to prepare and update the detailed information for the 13 permanent information panels situated at key points along the route. The panels will be displayed from Eaton Socon all the way down to Earith. As well as having a fresh look at the nature notes that were a feature of the originals, the new ones will include some information on local heritage to encourage walkers to investigate further. The panels show the route of the long-distance footpath but also suggest circular walks in each section that can be happily completed in a few hours.
A sample new-look panel nearing completion: fresh design; new text; additional illustrations; and now with heritage features.
This work is being carried out in co-operation with the County Council and Coral Design Management using an A14 Legacy Fund grant. One new panel will be situated in Bromholme Lane and will show a circular walk around Hinchingbrooke and Huntingdon town centre. Another will be in the centre of St Ives. Further new panels are also planned, as well as individual circular walk promotional leaflets for which grant funding is being sought.
We had a great response from our Partner Members in their analysis of issues with their local sections of the Ouse Valley Way. Unfortunately much of the work identified as necessary has yet to be commenced largely because of the extreme wet conditions this winter. However, it should hopefully get underway soon now that the ground is starting to dry out.
Planting poplars
Our project to replace the lost Black Poplars along the main river and its tributaries will continue this month. Our local farmers are very keen to help. Volunteers will shortly be planting poplars on the river bank opposite Brampton Mill. As this meadow is grazed by cattle during part of the year we are experimenting with specially designed metal tree-protectors called ‘cactus’ devices, as recommended by the Woodland Trust. The biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has offered help in our tree-planting campaign, and we are hopeful that other grants will meet the costs of the tree protectors.
Photograph protectorcactusworld.com
The ‘cactus’ tree protector doing its job!
For the last few years Godmanchester in Bloom, a Partner Member of the Trust, has been working with Suez, the landfill restoration company, to help restore land adjacent to the Nature Reserve. Many trees have been planted, a bird hide constructed and a Sand Martin ‘hotel’ installed adjacent to the new lagoon. We are hopeful that the first visitors will take up temporary residence this summer, and that they will give it 10/10 on Trip Advisor!
Photograph Graham Campbell
The new Sand Martin ‘hotel’ off Cow Lane in Godmanchester.
Partnership
The Trust has been meeting with other organisations and groups including, RSPB, the Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Natural Cambridgeshire, Natural England and others, with the aim of creating Partnership Working for the whole valley within Cambridgeshire. This very much relates to the ongoing project for AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) recognition, and designation and responds to the Government's declared ambition to protect 30% of the countryside. We are all hopeful that this will be the start of a major landscape initiative which will attract large grants and enable the Trust to achieve its ambitions to promote, protect and enhance the landscape.
Other projects
Our Partner Members are working on many different projects within the valley: creating a new ‘fish pass’ to allow fish including eels to navigate through the many man-made barriers; researching the potential for a new river ferry crossing at Great Paxton; establishing wild bathing areas; and many more. We are also looking closely at how the planned study of the A141 by the Combined Authority will impact on our landscape.
The Trust has also begun to engage with other groups such as The Rivers Trust and the Fens Biosphere and FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group). We are all working together to protect and improve the landscape.
It would be great to hear what is happening on the ground in your part of the valley. If you would like to share news of your own projects and initiatives with us, do please be in touch.
Graham Campbell, March 2021
|
SAVE THE DATE THURSDAY 22 APRIL 2021 |
Bridget Flanagan, Trustee of the Great Ouse Valley Trust, explains how flooding is a natural phenomenon here, why its nature is changing and what we can do about it. The full article is available for downloading below.
|
|
Page 2 of 7
