Here’s the latest update from the committee on the River Allen Habitat Improvement Project.

Bruce Stenhouse, Head River Keeper, and I (Mike) attended the meeting along with about twenty other stakeholders held at St Giles House, Wimborne St Giles which was chaired by Nick Shaftesbury.

The team has now been appointed so there is a Project Manager (Bronwyn Patterson), Ecology Manager (Sadie), and Admin Officer (Jonathan).

Since the last meeting the Association has won the bid with DEFRA to move into Round Two, being a two-year development phase. During this phase the team will work on the following six deliverables: Land Management Plan, Stakeholder Engagement, Site Access Plan, Monitoring Methodology, Financial Plan, and Project Management/Delivery. After the two-year development phase, it is hoped the project will have gained public and private funding and then move into the third and final twenty-year phase of delivery.

It is hoped that the two River Allen tributaries will be brought into the scheme although they were not included in the original plan.

The River Allen Association has now evolved into a Community Interest Company (C.I.C.) which is the vehicle to take the project forward and transact the finances. The Board is made up of about six of the original main stakeholders of the R.A.A.. Riparian Owners including Ian (who is the owner of the stretch we fish), are invited to become members of the C.I.C.

Each fishery represented at the meeting gave a brief report, for which the main common theme is that everywhere has been flooded all winter and fishing has not yet got underway. The river is now expected to fall quickly with less rain and increased abstraction at Stanbridge Pumping Station. The National Trust and Deans Court both reported that they are undertaking Riverfly Monitoring, and this is something WSTA could pursue if we have sufficient volunteers.

Next Steps for the project are for the team to work on the six deliverables mentioned above and get down to specific plans and actions. The WSTA is to apply to become a “Support Member” of the C.I.C.

Mike Bilson

Committee, WSTA