Northumberland Rivers Catchment Partnership

Catchment partnership vision

We see resilient rivers with salmon, otters and kingfishers. There is clean gravel on the river-bed and clean sand on the beaches where communities play together. We hear songbirds, curlews and buzzing insects. Our native wildlife is flourishing and is protected from the impacts of invasive species. Our thriving rural and coastal communities value and respect our natural world. We work together to ensure our land, water and fisheries are managed sustainably, doing all we can to protect and improve these assets while making a living. Our groundwater is clean and protected from rising mine-water. Everyone is aware of the changing climate, and we all do what we can to build resilience, adapt and reduce our carbon footprint. We feel lucky to live and visit here, knowing that exploring our beautiful rivers, lakes, streams and coast is easy for all. We communicate, volunteer and share. We work together across catchments, coasts and nature recovery networks to make our rivers and coast the best they can be, resilient to changing climates and valued by our communities. Because we owe it to future generations.

National Trust

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

    Elevated levels of nutrients and sediment are impacting both rivers and the marine environment, causing eutrophication and algal growth

  • Invasive Non-native Species

    We have one of England’s few native white clawed crayfish populations, it is vital we protect this and other native species in our rivers and coasts

  • Physical modifications

    Historic flood management and land drainage along with urbanisation in the form of road crossings and weirs have degraded our rivers and estuaries

Wider water environment challenges identified by partnership

  • Support Nature Recovery Network and Local Nature Recovery Strategy

    Building on the Wansbeck catchment Nature Recovery Network pilot we will align nature recovery with our catchment plans, delivering together

  • Build environmental resilience and adaptation to climate change

    Our rural communities rely on nature, we need to build resilience and adaptability into all land management, farming and fisheries practices

  • Protect and restore healthy soils and nutrient balance

    Soil health and nature are the heart of a healthy water environment, to enable our rivers to thrive we must sustain good soil health and wildlife

  • Nature Recovery, protect and enhance rare habitats including chalk streams

    There are range of protected habitats and species across Northumberland as a partnership we must support nature recovery in these designated areas

  • Connecting communities with nature

    Communities are more connected with nature than ever, we need to harness this enthusiasm and encourage communities to support our rivers and coast

  • Improved shellfish waters

    We need to understand and address those sources of pollution impacting Northumberland's shellfish waters

Future challenges predicted by partnership

  • Pollution from agriculture and rural areas

  • Invasive Non-native Species

  • Changes to the natural flow and water levels

Future challenges predicted by Environment Agency

Future challenges in 2050

  • Invasive Non-native Species
  • Pollution from Agriculture and Rural Areas
  • Physical Modifications

Emerging challenges

  • Pollution from Agriculture and Rural Areas
  • Physical Modifications
  • Pollution from waste water

Partnership success highlights 2016 to 2021

Tackling rural diffuse pollution: We continue to work with farmers and landowners in the Aln, Wansbeck and Coquet. Partners have created wetlands and planting trees mitigating rural impacts, improving habitats and helping with climate change. The Living Hart Burn project at Wallington National Trust has protected the river corridor and increased the size of buffer strips led to a marked improvement in ecology within the Hart Burn. Native White-clawed crayfish: An active group has developed a strategy and are delivering practical measures including surveying, awareness raising, Signal crayfish barriers, ark site stocking and investigations into bio-technology measures. This links with regional invasives work across catchments and coast. Tackling physical modifications: We have started projects looking at weir removal (Lower Coquet), river restoration (Wansbeck and Pont) and the removal of redundant historical coastal flood defences as well as managed realignment (Northumberland Coast and Coquet Estuary). We are creating dozens of fish and eel passes helping wildlife migrating past weirs and barriers. Nature Recovery: The Wansbeck catchment was one of the Nature Recovery Network pilots and will drive nature recovery in the Wansbeck and beyond. Coastal links: We have worked with the Berwickshire & Northumberland Marine Nature Partnership who have developed a Draft Action Plan. A cross-border 6 million Euro EU Life project along the North Northumberland Coast will deliver river restoration, reed bed and wetland creation and the provision of land and water advice to the farming community. Community: Much of this is supported by excellent volunteer groups across the region.

Environment Agency

Partnership development plans

In 2022, we will revise and update our Catchment Plan and share our successes and ambitions through a new storymap and web presence. We will continue with focus groups on our priority issues and embrace new collaborative opportunities, strengthening our existing links between our catchment partnerships, coastal partnerships and nature recovery networks. We will find ways to make the partnership more valuable to partners, encourage greater collaboration and look to secure more funding for action through diverse routes. We will learn together and grow our engagement to reach more partners with diverse interests, supporting healthy, wild and resilient rivers and coasts in Northumberland for everyone.

Partnership priority actions and measures for 2022 to 2027

  • Confident

    A Green Recovery at Wallington with a focus on nature restoration, nature based solutions and connecting people with nature

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Green Recovery Challenge Fund/Challenge Fund
    Location
    Hart Burn from Source to Delf Burn

  • Confident

    Coquet Vision 2020, improving fish and eel passage on the Coquet side streams and parts of Coquet

    Reason for measure
    Mitigate the impacts on ecology from physical modifications in modified waters
    Delivery mechanism
    Green Recovery Challenge Fund/Challenge Fund
    Location
    Hazon Burn Catchment (trib of Coquet)

  • Confident

    Native White Clawed Crayfish Conservation, the project is delivering the strategic aims of the Northumberland Crayfish Conservation Strategy

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage invasive non-native species
    Delivery mechanism
    Grant giving trusts and businesses
    Location
    Northumberland Rivers

  • Confident

    North Northumberland Coast project will return areas of intertidal habitat lost through historic sea defence construction

    Reason for measure
    Mitigate the impacts on ecology from physical modifications in modified waters
    Delivery mechanism
    EA Flood/coastal risk management programme
    Location
    BLYTH (N) ALN North Low from Berrington Burn to N Sea

  • Confident

    Catch My Drift project will improve in-channel morphology and water quality as well as creating and enhancing water dependent habitats

    Reason for measure
    Mitigate the impacts on ecology from physical modifications in modified waters
    Delivery mechanism
    WEIF Water Environment Improvement Fund
    Location
    Northumberland Rivers

  • Confident

    LIFE WADER project will improve the intertidal and marine habitats of the Northumberland Coast with a focus on nutrients and water quality

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    EU funding
    Location
    Holy Island & Budle Bay

  • Less certain

    Working with Nature in Coquetdale, delivery of a landscape scale project to address rural land management pressures on the water environment

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Environment Land Management Scheme (future full-scale roll-out)
    Barriers to delivery
    Ministry of Defence unexploded ordnance and rural land management practices
    Location
    Coquet Upper

  • Less certain

    Lower Coquet Weir Removal, progress options for weir removal following the Lower Coquet Weirs Feasibility Study

    Reason for measure
    Mitigate the impacts on ecology from physical modifications in modified waters
    Delivery mechanism
    EU funding
    Barriers to delivery
    Public perception around weir removal and available funding sources
    Location
    Coquet Lower

  • Less certain

    Invasive non-native species (INNS) work, supported by the North East INNS Strategy

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage invasive non-native species
    Delivery mechanism
    Grant giving trusts and businesses
    Barriers to delivery
    Securing funding for action is difficult, better mapping of issues
    Location
    Northumberland Rivers

  • Less certain

    Pont Restoration Part 1 - Creation of a mosaic of water dependent habitats and river restoration

    Reason for measure
    Mitigate the impacts on ecology from physical modifications in modified waters
    Delivery mechanism
    Flood and Coastal Innovation and Resilience Fund
    Barriers to delivery
    Project planning is not finalised
    Location
    Pont

  • Less certain

    Pont Restoration Part 2, restore natural river processes around Pont Ends, improving riparian habitat and recreating wet pastures for wading birds

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Environment Land Management Scheme (future full-scale roll-out)
    Barriers to delivery
    Buy in from the agricultural community
    Location
    Pont

  • Less certain

    Collaborative approach to identify nature based solutions in the North-East Hub for the next Water Industry National Environment Programme

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Confirmed water industry national environment programme 2020-2025
    Barriers to delivery
    Industry commitment for catchment schemes and nature based solutions in WINEP
    Location
    Northumberland Rivers

  • Wider water environment

    Bluespace improvements to publicly accessible water environments targeting biodiversity, water quality and recreational facilities

    Reason for measure
    Connecting communities with nature
    Delivery mechanism
    Potential future water industry programme
    Location
    Northumberland Rivers

  • Wider water environment

    Draft Action Plan for the Durham Heritage Coast and Berwickshire & Northumberland Marine Nature Partnerships

    Reason for measure
    Connecting communities with nature
    Delivery mechanism
    Grant giving trusts and businesses
    Location
    Northumbria TraC

Catchment Partnership contributors

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