Catherine
Burbage - 26-Mar-2008 - What: Launch of
Environmental Checklists
Where: B&Q Chelmsford
When: Thursday 27 March
Who: Building experts
from Kier Group, Anglian Water, Energy Saving
Trust, Buildings Research Establishment
and the Environment Agency
Builders and homeowners
planning a domestic building project can
collect free checklists from B & Q in
Chelmsford which guide them through environmental
choices for their projects.
A series of checklists
for kitchens, bathrooms, extensions and
other projects will be launched which are
a simple way for people to make quick and
easy decisions about choosing environmentally
beneficial products and materials.
Clare Watkins from the
Environment Agency said, “People often assume
that anything with good environmental credentials
is immediately more difficult to find and
more expensive to use. But these checklists
show it’s actually quick and easy to choose
environmentally beneficial products that
can save money on household bills too.
The checklists are the
first of their kind for builders and homeowners.
They’re straightforward and easy to use
and show that choices, such as choosing
certified timber, are easy to make.”
The checklist has been
developed by the Environment Agency in conjunction
with Kier Eastern, Anglian Water, Energy
Saving Trust Advice Centre Anglia and Buildings
Research Establishment. They are available
free in Peterborough, Norwich and Chelmsford
B & Q Stores and B & Q staff members
in those stores have been trained in discussing
the environmental options with customers.
Clare Watkins continued,
“The support our partners have given us
in developing and promoting the checklists
is fantastic. Working together we can create
a better place for us all to live in by
making environmental choices easy.”
A series of checklists
for different building jobs is available
around the stores.
There will be an opportunity
to win £200 in B & Q vouchers
on Thursday 27 March, but the checklists
will continue to be available throughout
the store after this date.
+ More
Environment Agency adds
new gravel spots
Rita Penman - 25-Mar-2008
- Another step has been taken to secure
a sustainable breeding population of barbel
in Norfolk’s River Wensum with the creation
of new gravel areas.
The site near Lyng,
managed by Norfolk Anglers Conservation
Association (NACA), has been the focus of
many years of habitat restoration work led
by the Association. In the latest phase
of work the Environment Agency has created
two new gravel patches of fifteen cubic
metres each, close to existing spawning
areas.
Some trimming of trees
on the sides of the banks was needed to
allow access for the machinery and this
will be beneficial to the site by allowing
more light to penetrate to the river channel,
potentially encouraging the growth of plants
such as water crowfoot, which has been identified
as a possible key plant in barbel stock
growth.
Fresh gravel was also
added to another riffle (initially created
by NACA in the early stages of the Sayers
Meadow Habitat Restoration Project) where
barbel spawning activity was reported in
2007, and a fry refuge was de-silted whilst
machinery was available.
The Lyng fishery is
generally recognised as being near the upper
limit of barbel spawning on the river. Consequently,
work of this type on the spawning habitat
could benefit the entire river system below,
as any movement of juveniles will be in
a downstream direction, upstream movement
being blocked by the water control structures
at Lyng Mill.
This enlargement of
natural gravels, the design and placement
of which have been carefully selected to
optimize their value as spawning sites,
is effectively a trial operation, carried
out as part of an ongoing programme of restoration
measures that includes the formation of
full-width gravel riffles, and regular gravel-jetting
to remove silt.
Again, this forms part
of a much more wide-reaching project at
Lyng, running for nearly twenty years, which
has included re-profiling the river bed,
planting of riparian vegetation, excavating
deeper pools, creating fry-refuges and re-stocking
fish where allowable.
NACA welcomes involvement
and help from the Environment Agency in
facilitating this gravel augmentation pilot
scheme, and with future works planned on
the river which contribute to the improvements
required by the River Wensum Restoration
Strategy. NACA look forward to working together
in partnership to protect and improve the
river as a valuable resource in this region.
NACA vice-chairman Chris
Turnbull said: ‘Barbel are of huge importance
to the Wensum as a fishery. Without them
large reaches of the river have little value
as a social/economic angling resource. While
barbel are successfully recruiting in some
stretches of the river, stocks are dwindling
elsewhere. Hopefully this work will start
to address this trend by improving spawning
sites and boosting fry recruitment.’
Rob Dryden, Technical
Specialist with the Agency’s Fisheries,
Recreation and Biodiversity Team, said:
‘We are pleased to be working with NACA
and the local landowner to implement habitat
enhancements that benefit the fishery at
Lyng. Over the coming years we will be seeking
further opportunities to develop partnership
projects aimed at restoring the ecological
functioning of the river.’
