Charter endorsed to protect the River Avon after plea from the river's wife
Bath and North East Somerset Council voted unanimously at its full council meeting on July 16 to endorse a charter to respect the river’s “rights” to exist
A woman who married the River Avon has successfully urged councillors to take more action to protect it.
Bath and North East Somerset Council voted unanimously at its full council meeting on July 16 to endorse a charter to respect the river’s “rights” to exist, slow sustainably, and not be polluted. Campaign group “We are Avon” wants all councils along the 83-mile length of the river to follow suit.
Meg Avon, a researcher and performance poet who married the river in a ceremony in 2023 to raise awareness of water pollution, was among public speakers at the meeting calling on the council to back the charter. She said: “Recognising these rights is not a radical act. Humans and nature are not separate, we are together.”
She said that We Are Avon already had 120 river guardians monitoring the river and 260,000 acres of its bioregion. The campaign group is now trying to get every council along the course of the river and its tributaries to sign up to the “charter for our Avon bioregion.”
In May, the River Wye became the first British river to have every council from its source to its mouth commit to a charter to protect it and ensure it is considered in council discussions. Tabling the motion to protect the River Avon, councillor Andy Wait (Keynsham East, Liberal Democrat) told Bath and North East Somerset Council: “This is what I want for our Avon.”
He said: “I expect all councils — unitary, town, and parish — to adopt this charter from the source to the sea. One council, Winsley Parish Council in Wiltshire, has already adopted the charter which is great for us because the water that flows through Winsley is the same that flows through B&NES.”
Oli Henman (Walcot, Liberal Democrat) said it was “shocking” that people swimming in the river had been getting sick. He said: “I believe it is essential that we need to work together to clean up our rivers and give people access to natural spaces surrounded by better biodiversity.”
The meeting also heard from East Harptree mum Daisy Thompson, who claimed that the nearby water recycling centre had discharged for over a thousand hours into the small brook near her house last year. She said: “I certainly don’t let my children go into the river any more.”
The brook leads into Chew River, which itself leads into the Avon. The resolution passed by the council is intended to cover the wider river area, including tributaries, and other issues such as agricultural runoff and industrial pollution as well as water companies’ sewage dumping.
As well as adopting the charter, it calls on the council to urgently review what measures it can take to improve water quality and biodiversity in the River Avon and its tributaries, and calls on the council leader to contact Wessex Water to set up regular meetings to hold them to account for discharging untreated sewage into the river.
Several locations along the river are popular with swimmers. Mrs Avon’s wedding to the River Avon featured in the film “Rave on for the Avon.” She celebrated her third wedding anniversary with the river in March.