Dales to Vale Rivers Network (Wharfe and Lower Ouse)

Catchment partnership vision

Our vision is that the river environments of the Swale, Ure, Nidd, Ouse and Wharfe are thriving, supporting the needs and well-being of their biodiversity and communities, now and in the future. We will take the Swale, Ure, Nidd, Ouse and Wharfe river catchments from surviving to thriving by reconnecting the rivers, landscapes and communities. The Dales to Vale Rivers Network will drive collective actions to:

  • enhance, create and reconnect habitats
  • demonstrate and encourage holistic land management, including water friendly farming and natural flood management measures
  • improve water quality
  • Implement a strategic approach to Invasive Non-native Species management and biosecurity
  • link communities to their surroundings.With the overall aim of enabling people and wildlife to be resilient to environmental pressures and maximise the value of our catchments. This will achieve our vision of healthy rivers and abundant wildlife, valued by communities.

Yorkshire Dales Rivers 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

  • Physical modifications

    Fish passage is restricted by barriers from our industrial past and lowland areas were historically drained for farming

  • Pollution from waste water

    Historical combined sewage outfalls and non-mains drainage impacting recreational use of the rivers

  • Pollution from agriculture and rural areas

    Rural land management practices impact significantly on tributaries

Wider water environment challenges identified by partnership

  • Improved bathing waters (including inland)

    Bathing water monitoring is giving a clearer picture of pollution types, sources need to be investigated

  • Nature Recovery, designated areas for nature and biodiversity

    Migrating Salmon and Eels from the Humber are priority species for recovery in the River Wharfe

  • Reduce storm overflows and drainage system incidents

    Victorian sewerage systems are adding to the issues with water quality, sustainable urban drainage systems should be considered

  • Protect and restore healthy soils and nutrient balance

    Over 70 percent of the catchment is agricultural land, arable and livestock farming, run off of nitrates and soil is impacting soil quality

  • Build environmental resilience and adaptation to climate change

    Our communities need to understand the increased risk of flooding and drought and what they can do to mitigate against these

  • Connecting communities with nature

    Communities need to be connected with nature to be able to value it and be involved in making it better

Future challenges predicted by partnership

  • Physical modifications

    Past modifications confine the river from connecting with it's floodplain, behaving naturally and providing the best environment for nature

  • Pollution from waste water

    Citizen Science river health checks (2020, 2021) show pollution downstream of combined sewer outfalls, which are adding to water quality issues

  • Pollution from agriculture and rural areas

    Over 70% of the river flows through agricultural land, reducing the pollution from agriculture is something we can work on with partners and landowners

Future challenges predicted by Environment Agency

Future challenges in 2050

  • Invasive Non-native Species
  • Changes to the Natural Flow and Water Levels
  • Pollution from waste water

Emerging challenges

  • Changes to the Natural Flow and Water Levels
  • Pollution from Agriculture and Rural Areas
  • Pollution from waste water

Partnership success highlights 2016 to 2021

Dales to Vale Rivers Network partners secured £750k of Water Environment Grant to deliver 3 projects:

  • Stank Beck sediment project
  • Wild Wiske Revival - clean and green
  • Headwaters for Healthy Rivers.Delivering benefits to habitat, natural flood management and rural pollution prevention.The partnership delivered 4 natural flood management projects in Bishopdale, Brompton, Collingham and Ilkley securing £750k for investment in trees, farm plans, leaky dams, wetlands and habitats. York Urban Becks Project commenced, restoring a 500m of Osbaldwick Beck. The Foss Catchment project was formed to prevent sediment loading upstream, taking a catchment based approach. Peat restoration has been significant due to strong collaboration between members forming the Peat Partnership. The Wharfe SSSI, Rivers in Elmet, Addingham 4 Becks and Rivers 2 U projects continue to engage landowners and communities in improving the rivers.Dales to Vale Rivers Network partners have been involved in two successful National Lottery bids in 2020-21, Skell Valley Project and Tees Swale Naturally Connected, totalling approximately £10m for water quality improvements, habitat creation, natural flood management and invasive non-native species management. In December 2020 we secured £130k for riparian tree planting. Practical natural flood management guides produced by the partners were welcomed by lowland and upland farmers.

Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust

Partnership development plans

The Dales to Vale Rivers Network aims to be more self-sustaining, with its own future funding group to identify and support bids to innovative funding streams. We are engaging with the wider network via sub catchment meetings to work at a community level and provide links between these groups to cover the whole catchment, including large partnership projects across both catchments. We are building on the existing network using our targeted engagement and communications plans.

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
    Wharfe and Ouse Lower

  • Confident

    Improve fish passage to address failures through Fish to the Friars Project

    Reason for measure
    Manage modified habitats
    Delivery mechanism
    WEIF Water Environment Improvement Fund
    Location
    Wharfe Middle and Washburn Wharfe Upper

  • Confident

    Better land management to address water quality through Rivers in Elmet and Bishop Dyke projects

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    WEIF Water Environment Improvement Fund
    Location
    Ouse Lower Yorkshire Wharfe Lower

  • Confident

    Habitat creation and strategic invasive non-native species management including, INNS Out!

    Reason for measure
    Manage modified habitats
    Delivery mechanism
    Other local funding
    Location
    Wharfe and Ouse Lower

  • Confident

    Natural flood management through peatland restoration, tree planting, wetland creation and land management projects, building on Backstone Beck

    Reason for measure
    Manage modified habitats
    Delivery mechanism
    EA Flood/coastal risk management programme
    Location
    Wharfe and Ouse Lower

  • Less certain

    Apply measures to support the new bathing water designation on the Wharfe

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage urban diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Potential future water industry programme
    Barriers to delivery
    Certainty of measures required
    Location
    Wharfe Lower Wharfe Middle and Washburn Wharfe Upper

  • Less certain

    Increase resilience to flooding; sustainable drainage systems, natural flood management and community beck stewardship

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage urban diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    EA Flood/coastal risk management programme
    Barriers to delivery
    Securing funding and time to develop
    Location
    Wharfe and Ouse Lower

  • Less certain

    Farm water management plans for sustainable water management, covering water flows, usage and habitats

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    WEIF Water Environment Improvement Fund
    Barriers to delivery
    Securing funding
    Location
    Wharfe and Ouse Lower

  • Less certain

    Mitigating the impact of channel management activities on the ecology, geomorphology and hydrology of lowland watercourses

    Reason for measure
    Mitigate the impacts on ecology from physical modifications in modified waters
    Delivery mechanism
    EA Flood/coastal risk management programme
    Barriers to delivery
    Secure funding
    Location
    Ouse Lower Yorkshire Wharfe Lower

  • Wider water environment

    iWharfe - citizen science programme investigating pollution levels along the catchment

    Reason for measure
    Improved bathing waters (including inland)
    Delivery mechanism
    WEIF Water Environment Improvement Fund
    Location
    Wharfe Middle and Washburn

  • Wider water environment

    iWharfe - water quality improvements working with farmers and landowners

    Reason for measure
    Protect and restore healthy soils and nutrient balance
    Delivery mechanism
    Potential future water industry programme
    Location
    Wharfe and Ouse Lower

  • Wider water environment

    iWharfe - community engagement linking up communities along the Wharfe

    Reason for measure
    Connecting communities with nature
    Delivery mechanism
    Potential future water industry programme
    Location
    Wharfe and Ouse Lower

Catchment Partnership contributors

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