Isbourne Catchment Group – AGM Minutes from Tuesday 21st March 2024 5.30pm Cleeve Room Abbeyfields Winchcombe.

ICG Group Members Present – Jem Williamson, Richard Wakeford, Annette Dawson, Sue Morris, & Andy Thomas.

Others Present – Ros Davies, Tristan Bailey, Jim Goddard, Alan Harris, Charles Saunders, Richard Hunt, Paul Mahoney, Hermes Carlyon, Jo Leigh & Paul McDonald

Apologies – received from Wendy Bufton (WCC), David Grey (GCC cabinet), Chris Short (CCRI), Martyn Cross (Wychavon), Peter Belk (GCC NFM project officer), Sheila Talbot (Winchcombe Walkers), Chris Bull (Sedgeberrow), Mark Connelly (Cotswold AONB)

Agenda

1. Welcome, introductions and apologies received.

Jem Williamson welcomed everyone and paid particular thanks to Annette Dawson (one of our founding members) who had travelled from Devon to be with us today, and also Jo Leigh of FWAG (Farming Wildlife Advisory Group) who will provide an update on activity in the catchment, now that Wendy Bufton has moved on to Natural Flood Management pro-jects across all of Worcestershire, with Jo effectively acting as the delivery agent for this lo-cality.

This is our regular annual event, which is slightly out of kilter, as the last meeting took place on 13th December 2022.

As a group we lost our regular point of contact at the Environment Agency with the retire-ment of Brian Smith. After a long hiatus, no doubt due to the endemic funding and staffing challenges at many national bodies, I am pleased to advise that Hermes Carlyon will be at-tending later this evening and hopefully be our new point of contact

When the ICG was established, back in 2014, Natural Flood Management was in its infancy but pioneers in the Stroud Valleys and the Vale of Pickering had demonstrated what could be achieved through low-cost interventions. Whilst we had an uphill battle convincing many folks locally that this may be the right solution for the River Isbourne, it is pleasing to see that NFM is now adopted government policy.

According to various national reports it would appear that the 3 winter months (December to February) have been the wettest recorded with almost a third more rain than normal. A fact echoed by data produced by Wychavon District Council.

With data such as this, one would have anticipated significant flood events on the Isbourne, and whilst the river has peaked several times, I am not aware of any flooding of property.

It is difficult to establish a direct causal link between the work that our partners at the Envi-ronment Agency, WCC, FWAG and others have undertaken on the catchment over the last few years as no two rainfall events are the same; for example, on 3rd January 2024 the River Avon at Evesham broke its banks and flooded but the Isbourne was low suggesting that the catchment had escaped that rainfall event.

However, it is quite clear that rainfall patterns are becoming more intense and therefore the chances of flood events are likely to rise, so consequently it is as important as ever to main-tain progress on Natural Flood Management across the catchment.

2. The Minutes from the last AGM on 30th November 2021 were approved.

3. Local Update – Jo Leigh from FWAG provided a comprehensive update on the activities across the catchment including works at Postlip, Sudeley Hill, Laverton Hill, the Isbourne Trading Estate and at Orchard Farm and on the Langley Brook in Winchcombe. Please see presentation for specific details and mapped locations.

It was noted at the last AGM 150 interventions had been achieved and now a further 21 interventions have been delivered, totalling 171 across the catchment. The audience wel-comed the on-going work and looked forward to further works as opportunities arose with landowners.

4. Questions

· What are the challenges moving forward?

Jo advised that her inability to make progress at two of the larger estates, Dumbleton and Stanway was a frustration as they cover a significant portion of the catchment. Tristan Bailey as one our pioneers offered to contact both estates to encourage en-gagement.

· Had any progress been achieved at Toddington?

JW advised that he had made contact with Wendy Bufton following an opportunity for tree planting linked to the Heart of England project but as all previous attempts, de-spite promising discussions had failed to deliver, she felt it better to target limited resource elsewhere to secure outcomes.

· Who will be the point of contact at the EA moving forward

Hermes Carlyon noted that he would act as the point of contact for the group pending any formal announcement, and in the meantime would liaise with Karen Andrews in-tegrated environment team

· What did future funding look like?

JL noted the Making Space for Water funding opportunity and flagged longer term changes to farming subsidies linked to flood and biodiversity outputs

5. Appointments for coming year were voted and agreed.

Chair – Jem Williamson

Vice-Chair – Richard Wakeford

Secretary – Annette Dawson (to be shadowed by Sue Morris for next 12 months)

6. AOB – Nothing raised