Contact us Household Business Developers Careers Environment About us Protecting the environment Wildlife and conservation Catchment management Our approach Poole harbour Catchment information Projects Meetings Policies and key documents Get involved Stour Investigations Water resources Bathing waters About us > Environment > Catchment management > Poole Harbour Catchment Initiative Poole Harbour Catchment Initiative Aims | Key issues | What do we do? | Who is involved? Aims During 2012 the Poole Harbour Catchment Initiative, PHCI, was one of the first pilots in England to trial the catchment based approach. This involved each pilot developing a stakeholder engagement process to identify the key issues and solutions in their catchment. During the pilot stage, the PHCI was originally known as the Frome & Piddle Catchment Initiative but this name was changed in May 2013 when the boundary of the catchment was extended to incorporate all rivers and streams that drain into Poole Harbour. The PHCI aims to achieve: sustainable farming, development, water use and sewage treatment that supports healthy rivers and groundwater in the Poole Harbour catchment recognition of the ecosystem services that the catchment can provide and an adequate payment to those that manage the land to provide these services improvement to biodiversity habitats both in the form of naturally functioning rivers, floodplains and wetlands and appropriately located woodland and low-input grassland national environmental standards for the benefit of wildlife, users of these waters, and Poole Harbour. Key issues There are many challenges facing the water environment, to make a real difference there needs to be an integrated approach to sharing knowledge and delivering improvements that will protect the water, land and people in the long term. Combining our efforts in a strategic manner and making decisions based on a good evidence will help us to make progress and protect our catchment for future generations. The Catchment Partnership has jointly identified five key issues that are relevant to the Poole Harbour Catchment: What do we do? In 2013 the UK Government committed to supporting the Catchment Based Approach. All catchments in England are now being encouraged to work together and coordinate efforts at a local scale. The Catchment Partnerships will help to protect England’s water environment and deliver the Good Ecological Status needed for our water environment to comply with the European Water Framework Directive. The PHCI builds on the extensive activity already underway in the catchment. The main roles and functions of the PHCI include: helping to identify the local problems facing the water environment finding solutions to address these problems through a partnership approach. The PHCI has developed a shared catchment plan that helps to coordinate and support the many projects and actions that are helping to improve the issues in the Poole Harbour catchment. The PHCI is very keen to support an active partnership and remains committed to improving and protecting the water environment. The PHCI helps to take a strategic overview of all of the activities that are currently being delivered within the catchment and coordinates these activities via the PHCI action plan. Who is involved? The work and projects that are delivered as part of the PHCI are coordinated and guided by the following three groups: PHCI Steering Group The steering group represent a wide range of stakeholders and sectors in the catchment, they come together quarterly via the PHCI to discuss and agree the most effective way the Catchment Partnership can support delivery to improve the rivers, streams, groundwater and harbour. All of our steering group members play a vital role in protecting and improving the water environment in our catchment. For more information about their work please follow the web links below. The steering group membership currently consists of the following organisations/representatives: Organisation Contact Contact email Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) Charlotte Woodford CSF Officer Charlotte.Woodford@naturalengland.org.uk Dorset AONB Ian Rees Countryside Officer i.rees@dorsetcc.gov.uk Dorset Wildlife Trust Sarah Williams Dorset Wild Rivers Coordinator SWilliams@dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk Environment Agency Ben Rayner Catchment Coordinator for Dorset ben.rayner@environment-agency.gov.uk The Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group ( FWAG SW ) Clare Buckerfield Farm Conservation Adviser clare.buckerfield@fwagsw.org.uk Forestry Commission Ian Briscoe Woodland Officer ian.briscoe@forestry.gsi.gov.uk Frome, Piddle & West Dorset Fisheries Association Charles Dutton Chairman of FPWDFA Chairman@RiverFrome.com National Farmers' Union ( NFU ) Matt Uren Dorset County Adviser RSPB Renny Henderson Senior Conservation Officer Renny.Henderson@rspb.org.uk Natural England Doug Kite Conservation Adviser douglas.kite@naturalengland.org.uk Wessex Water Zoe Pittaway Catchment Coordinator mailto:zoe.pittaway@wessexwater.co.uk West Dorset District Council Hilary Jordan Spatial & Community Policy Manager H.Jordan@westdorset-weymouth.gov.uk Westcountry Rivers Trust Olivia Durkin Land & Fisheries Officer olivia@wrt.org.uk PHCI Agriculture & Land Management Group The Chair of this Farmer Led Group also attends the Steering Group meetings with another farmer member of the Group PHCI Agriculture & Land Management Group The chair of this farmer-led group also attends the steering group meetings with another farmer member of the group. PHCI Agricultural & Land Management Group The PHCI agricultural and land management group was formed in 2014 to help coordinate and simplify the actions and messages that were arising from the many agricultural related projects/schemes in the catchment. This farmer-led group consists of 16 local farmers and land owners who meet separately from the steering group. The group also includes members from the Watercress Growers Association, local agronomists and land agents. The group aims to find solutions to the many agricultural related challenges facing the catchment. In particular, working to find sustainable answers to the problems related to diffuse leaching of nutrients into streams, rivers and groundwaters. The following organisations support this group and also attend meetings and provide advice as required: NFU CLA Wessex Water catchment management team Environment Agency Natural England Campaign for the Farmed Environment (CFE) FWAG SW PHCI Monitoring Task Group The monitoring task group formed in 2013 to develop a more coordinated approach to sampling and collecting data within the catchment. There is a vast array of data being collected by various organisations that relates to the water environment. It is important that we share data between organisations as this will help us to make decisions based on a good evidence base and ultimately help make improvements to the wider environment. Collecting regular samples over a long period allows us to identify trends and changes to the water environment. It is important to keep monitoring at these long term data sites and identify where there are gaps in our data sources and knowledge. Some of the data that is currently being collected in the catchment includes: water quality, eg, nitrogen, ortho-phosphate water flow, eg, flow levels fish counts, eg, salmon invertebrate samples, eg, Riverfly monitoring group sediment fingerprinting, eg, sediment trapping to identify where excess sediment is coming from. The group helped to develop a monitoring work programme for the Poole Harbour Catchment. This shared work programme identifies different actions for each partner. Please email for more information about the monitoring group. Advanced search Show quicklinks