Cornwall Catchment Partnership (North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey)

Catchment partnership vision

Working to secure a sustainable, clean water environment throughout Cornwall for people and wildlife. Our water environment is essential to our quality of life. We need to protect and enhance rivers and groundwater as systems which means thinking about them from source to shore and all the places in between. The Cornwall Catchment Partnership (CCP) is committed to working collaboratively with key partners and stakeholders on priority catchment issues, working across themes to deliver integrated catchment management. The Partnership acts as a focal point for wider strategic catchment based activity with the intention of encouraging the catchment-based approach (CaBA) in all appropriate areas of planning, development and resource management throughout Cornwall. The Partnership recognises the importance of empowering landowners and farmers and aligning funding to support delivery of nature recovery in Cornwall and to secure healthy river catchments, freshwater bodies and coastal waters.

Related websites

Find out more about the activities and ambitions of this catchment partnership and how you can get involved to help improve the water environment in the catchment.

Catchment challenges

Current challenges identified by partnership

  • Pollution from agriculture and rural areas

    Sediment runoff and diffuse nutrient, bacterial and pesticide pollution is impacting freshwater, coastal and marine environments

  • Changes to the natural flow and water levels

    More drought and flood events alongside abstraction and development pressures are affecting people and wildlife

  • Pollution from waste water

    With Cornwall's growing population and increase in tourism, wastewater discharges are impacting our rivers, bathing waters and shellfish waters

Wider water environment challenges identified by partnership

  • Protect and restore healthy soils and nutrient balance

    Healthy fertile soils that are in nutrient balance provide multiple environmental benefits, particularly when restored on a catchment scale

  • Build environmental resilience and adaptation to climate change

    Climate change is the single biggest risk facing our river catchments and urgent action is needed to both adapt and mitigate

  • Reduce storm overflows and drainage system incidents

    Storm overflows and issues with drainage systems can have negative impacts on the water environment for both communities and nature

  • Support Nature Recovery Network and Local Nature Recovery Strategy

    Joined-up approach to nature recovery and making space for nature, including farming incentives, are crucial to improving the water environment

  • Improved bathing waters (including inland)

    Cornwall is a popular holiday destination and the quality of both bathing and shellfish waters impacts public health, tourism and local industry

  • Connecting communities with nature

    Community engagement with nature delivers health and wellbeing benefits alongside greater protection and understanding of nature itself

Future challenges predicted by partnership

  • Pollution from agriculture and rural areas

    Agriculture is an important business sector in Cornwall, future climate change events will present a greater challenge to land management pressures on the water environment

  • Changes to the natural flow and water levels

    Climate Change is predicted to greatly reduce some seasonal low flows, further impacting existing water resource pressures and their dependent habitats

  • Invasive Non-native Species

    Increased global temperatures are predicted to increase the threat of invasive species displacing native, iconic and protected species

Future challenges predicted by Environment Agency

Future challenges in 2050

  • Invasive Non-native Species
  • Pollution from Agriculture and Rural Areas
  • Changes to the Natural Flow and Water Levels

Emerging challenges

  • Changes to the Natural Flow and Water Levels
  • Physical Modifications
  • Pollution from waste water

Partnership success highlights 2016 to 2021

  • Water for Growth is a flagship partnership project in the North Cornwall, Seaton, Looe and Fowey catchment, securing investment and removing barriers to fish migration on the rivers Camel and Fowey. One of the highlights for this European funded project was the removal of Keybridge Weir and Grogley Gauging Station on the River Camel in 2019-2020 which opened up the river for migratory fish and improved riparian habitat in a Special Area of Conservation.
  • The Cornwall Catchment Partnership is keen to develop and support projects which look to re-naturalise rivers and reconnect them to their floodplain. The River Seaton Restoration Project is a brilliant example of how this can be done by working collaboratively with partners, and in this case, taking advantage of works to protect critical road infrastructure to also secure environmental improvements. This project has proven to be a pathfinder in cost effectively underwriting critical infrastructure investment whilst also addressing the longer term challenges of climate change and nature recovery.
  • The catchment has also benefited from South West Water’s Upstream Thinking (UST) 2, a catchment management programme targeting the Fowey. UST is designed to combat deterioration in soil, nutrient and water management in the farmed landscape, targeting catchments where there are abstractions for drinking water supply. The project offers farm advice and grants to support improvements to farm infrastructure.

Partnership development plans

Establish a strong partnership model and become recognised as the ‘go to’ forum, delivering a range of co-benefits with a continued focus on improving the water environment and drought and flood resilience. Cultivated through a collaborative approach, identifying funding streams to support integrated projects and delivery of multiple outcomes relating to the challenges of climate change, nature recovery and adaptation. Working in ways that engage and contribute to community health and wellbeing and broaden the diversity of our stakeholder engagement.

Partnership priority actions and measures for 2022 to 2027

  • Confident

    Enhancement/no deterioration measures in 2020-2025 Water Industry National Environment Programme

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage point source discharges
    Delivery mechanism
    Confirmed water industry national environment programme 2020-2025
    Location
    North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey

  • Confident

    Upstream Thinking 3: working with farmers and landowners to improve water quality and benefit nature

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Confirmed water industry national environment programme 2020-2025
    Location
    Colliford Lake St Neot River

  • Confident

    South West Peatland Partnership: peatland restoration

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Nature Recovery Network
    Location
    Fowey Camel

  • Confident

    Devon and Cornwall Soils Alliance: strategic development of soils advisory capacity

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    EU funding
    Location
    North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey

  • Confident

    Water for Growth (W4G): natural capital investment scheme

    Reason for measure
    Manage modified habitats
    Delivery mechanism
    EU funding
    Location
    Fowey Camel

  • Confident

    Daras, Cornwall Land Hub: spatial mapping tool to link strategic need with potential economic opportunities for farming community

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Other local funding
    Location
    North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey

  • Less certain

    NATUREBASE: Camel nature-based solutions to tackle soils loss/sediment

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    WEIF Water Environment Improvement Fund
    Barriers to delivery
    Successful Water Environment Investment Fund application for capital and revenue monies
    Location
    Camel

  • Less certain

    Camel Nutrient Trading: on-farm integrated constructed wetlands providing nutrient credits for potential developments

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage urban diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    UK Shared Prosperity Fund
    Barriers to delivery
    Successful funding application to Shared Prosperity Fund
    Location
    Camel

  • Less certain

    Delivering riparian woodland creation

    Reason for measure
    Manage modified habitats
    Delivery mechanism
    Other local funding
    Barriers to delivery
    Project funding successfully secured
    Location
    North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey

  • Less certain

    Water for Growth 2: extend the natural capital investment scheme to further catchments

    Reason for measure
    Manage modified habitats
    Delivery mechanism
    UK Shared Prosperity Fund
    Barriers to delivery
    Successful funding application to Shared Prosperity Fund
    Location
    North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey

  • Less certain

    Development of river restoration and habitat creation opportunities

    Reason for measure
    Manage modified habitats
    Delivery mechanism
    Other local funding
    Barriers to delivery
    Successful partnership approach to secure funding
    Location
    North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey

  • Less certain

    Citizen Science Initiative to improve community health and wellbeing through empowerment

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Other local funding
    Barriers to delivery
    Strong partnership approach supported by the Environment Agency
    Location
    North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey

  • Wider water environment

    Transform AR: build resilience and adaptation to climate change sharing knowledge and innovation across Europe

    Reason for measure
    Build environmental resilience and adaptation to climate change
    Delivery mechanism
    EU funding
    Location
    Camel

  • Wider water environment

    Support a community of practice and knowledge exchange events/ activities for farmers, landowners and farm advisors in Cornwall

    Reason for measure
    Protect and restore healthy soils and nutrient balance
    Delivery mechanism
    Other local funding
    Location
    North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey

  • Wider water environment

    Support Surface Water Management Plans and activities to separate surface water from sewerage to reduce pressure on urban drainage systems

    Reason for measure
    Reduce storm overflows and drainage system incidents
    Delivery mechanism
    Other Public funding
    Location
    North Cornwall Seaton Looe and Fowey

Catchment Partnership contributors

Partners involved in the creation of this page and the actions of the partnership: