Soapbox
The EA has lost its way and many of its key allies, writes Donny Donovan
DAVE GILL WAS THE TALLEST IN our class, so it was on his shoulders that I was perched as I reached up and pencilled my name on to what are probably the most famous rocks in the world — Stonehenge.
We were on a school trip, 1972, and every ten-year-old wanted to leave their mark, and nobody questioned us. We could climb all over the stones, there was no museum or entry charge, and no-one wandering about pretending to be King Arthur Pendragon. It was more than 50 years ago, but I remember being fascinated by the magical circle and how ingenious people thousands of years ago had managed to transport the huge stones and stand them up in perfect alignment. By the time I got home, I regretted writing my name, although the pencil would have done no lasting damage, but even as a naughty schoolboy, I recognised that it was no way to treat something so special.
The recent debacle of an agreed plan to “over pump” sewage into the River Test by our infamous local water company (Southern Water) has rekindled those memories, although I know sewage will cause more lasting damage to a precious chalk stream than my pencil did to Stonehenge. This reckless plan has also changed for the worse the relationship between river keepers and the Environment Agency (EA) and Natural England (NE) who have remained conspicuous by their silence as tankers, pumping equipment and machinery have been dragged across a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The chalkstreams are SSSIs and Stonehenge is a UNESCO World Heritage site, both known around the world as unique places that should be afforded scrupulous protection.
Someone asked me the other day, “What does a river keeper actually do?” I jokingly said, “Clue’s in the name. I keep the river.” It got me thinking. Really what I mean is that I protect the river. I’m a river protector. Who do I protect the river from? Everybody and anybody that’s going to do it harm, usually a ne’er-do-well, but not always. Over the years, the profit-driven water companies have worked their way to the top of the ne’er-do-well list, but fear not, the EA, NE and other authoriti
