At last night’s full council meeting we voted unanimously in support of a motion brought by Cllr Paula Fernley to ‘recognise and protect the rights of rivers in East Devon’.
I believe that we are custodians of the Earth and that we all, individually and collectively, have an intrinsic, moral responsibility to look after our natural environment. So, naively, I thought it was a given that the council would be doing its utmost to protect our waterways and wondered why a motion stating the obvious was necessary.
I also, like some of the members of public who spoke, was concerned this may simply be a verbal pledge with no real tangible resulting action.
In essence, the motion noted the presence and ecological value of the many rivers across the district and committed to ensuring “due weight” is given to their protection through the council’s planning and policy functions: river protection and restoration has been embedded in the Local Plan, which “will continue to inform relevant planning decisions”.
It also confirmed that the council should continue to work in partnership with other relevant agencies including the Environment Agency and Natural England, and the valuable work of ‘citizen scientists’ should be recognised.
The motion also called for the Environment Agency to publish an annual ‘State of East Devon Rivers’ report to “improve transparency understanding and accountability for river condition and management”.
Cllr Todd Olive, Portfolio holder for Infrastructure and Strategic Planning commented to inform us that EDDC is the only authority to have conducted its own water cycle study and that the council, “a leading piece of work in the county”, and is already exercising its powers – within legislative constraints – “whenever and wherever we can”.
Our Chair, Cllr Eleanor Rylance noted that to make the changes we really want regarding protection for our waterways requires a change in government policy / primary legislation.
Cllr Eileen Wragg informed us that, contrary to wide misconception, water companies are not statutory consultees on planning applications, but said they should be, so they can be held to account. Quite agree!
It was suggested that we now decide amongst ourselves how to take this motion forward to ensure that our pledge to protect our rivers is more than just words…
Councillor Fran McElhone 