BART welcomes and supports the Rights of Rivers movement and the Bristol Avon Charter as an important means of strengthening the voice of rivers, engaging communities and increasing public and political attention on river health. We recognise the value of rights-based approaches in complementing existing environmental legislation and strengthening catchment governance and accountability.
We also recognise that the creation of new legal rights for rivers raises complex questions around representation, evidence, accountability, land ownership, water use and the balance between competing interests. BART therefore supports continued exploration and debate around the potential role of legal Rights of Rivers, while recognising that this should not be viewed as a single solution to the challenges facing our rivers.
Any future legal framework should be proportionate, evidence-led and developed collaboratively with communities, landowners, farmers, water users, businesses, regulators and environmental organisations. Crucially, it should strengthen and enable practical river restoration rather than create additional barriers or regulatory burdens for those working to improve river health.
In the meantime, BART will continue to support approaches that give rivers a stronger voice within existing policy, planning and regulatory frameworks, and that translate ambition into practical, catchment-scale action.
