the Rights of Rivers in the borough
Humans depend on our rivers to provide clean water for drinking and sanitation, fertile soil, and regeneration but rivers also support an extensive diversity of species and ecosystems and play a vital role in the functioning of the Earth’s continuous water cycle. Rivers are also one of the largest natural carbon-transport systems on our planet, moving land-based carbon to be stored in the oceans and providing temperature regulation functions.
This council recognises that rivers are vital to the ecological health, cultural heritage, and future sustainability of Basingstoke and Deane. These waterways also include our globally rare, ecologically fragile and irreplaceable chalk streams. The borough contains the springs and headwaters of the River Loddon and River Test as well as important tributaries of the Itchen and the Kennet. Rivers and the wetlands they create give many communities a sense of place and identity. Many towns exist in their place because of a river. Despite this, rivers across the UK, and here in Basingstoke and Deane, face increasing pressures from pollution, over-abstraction, habitat degradation, and climate change. Communities increasingly demonstrate that they care for their rivers and concern grows for the poor state of our rivers’ ecological health, which increasingly impacts public health.
To address these growing threats and to uphold our responsibilities to future generations, this council resolves to formally recognise the Rights of Rivers, drawing inspiration from the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Rivers.
The Right to Flow – to follow natural and seasonal flow patterns.
The Right to Perform Essential Functions within its Ecosystem – to sustain the hydrological and ecological processes that underpin the health of the waterways and landscape.
The Right to be Free from Pollution.
The Right to Feed and Be Fed by Sustainable Aquifers and other freshwater sources – to be replenished by, and to replenish, groundwater systems without unsustainable depletion.
The Right to Native Biodiversity.
The Right to Regeneration and Restoration – to recover from damage, including through active protection, remediation and investment in habitat restoration.
This council therefore declares that:
The intrinsic rights of rivers within the jurisdiction of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council will be acknowledged.
It will work with community groups, river trusts and environmental experts to identify and support the practical recognition of these rights.
It will support local initiatives and citizen monitoring efforts that protect and restore river health, such as citizen science water testing, riparian buffer planting, natural flood management and creating wildlife corridors.
It will embed river rights principles into council policies, where appropriate, particularly those concerning planning, development, land use, water quality, water management, and biodiversity.
It will commit to council projects and strategies taking account of the principles of Rights of Rivers and chalk streams taking appropriate measures to protect these ecosystems and delivering enhancements where possible.
It will advocate to national and regional bodies, including the Environment Agency, the adoption of river rights frameworks and enhanced protections for our chalk streams and freshwater ecosystems.
