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Greetings!
You may not have
realised it but there were three versions of the Cunliffe Report into
the water industry. The first was issued to the keyboard warriors,
who raged even before it was published, that nationalisation was off
the table. Frankly, for these people anything short of ritual
execution of all water industry executives was a cop out, with a
government run industry the answer to all that ails our waterways
despite the unhelpful evidence that shows the nationalised Scottish
and Northern Irish industries, along with the not-for-profit Welsh
industry have worse pollution records than their English
counterparts.
The second version
of the report was issued exclusively to the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed where his office had
clearly helpfully expunged all references by Cunliffe which stated
the inconvenient fact that consumer prices will have to rise to fund
long term infrastructure improvements. However, for Reed all future
price rises are off the table, but he is conveniently off the hook as
the current round of price rises are already set in stone for the
next five years by which time his stint at Defra will be a long
distant memory.
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Of course, it is
pure fantasy to imagine that we can improve our water quality without
shovelling hundreds of billions into new sewage plants, new sewage
processing technology, new reservoirs, a national grid of water and
so on, and so on for decades to come. We are in this bind because
successive governments of all political hues yoked Ofwat with the
impossible brief to improve water delivery but without giving them
the regulatory or financial tools to do the job.
Finally, there is,
of course, the real Cunliffe Report, all 400 plus pages of it. I must
admit when first announced I was sceptical that this Report would
take us anywhere new but if some of the 88 recommendations are acted
on then I am happy to say I was wrong. Top of those recommendations
has to be the abolition of Ofwat, whilst bringing the Drinking Water
Inspectorate and water-environment related functions of the
Environment Agency (EA) and Natural England under the auspices of a
single as-yet-to-be named super regulator.
For many, including
myself, who have for years railed against the Ofwat and the EA (the
Water Inspectorate is an irrelevance) the creation of a super
regulator is a huge leap forward. Of course, it comes with all the
usual caveats of effective implementation for Reed has told us it
will take at least two years to come into being. If he wants a
helping hand he can take my favoured name, the Pure Water Authority.
What was also
heartening, and unexpected, was the inclusion of Natural England (NE)
in the plan. What many people do not realise is that NE is the quango
of all quangos, sitting as it does above the EA in the bureaucratic
pecking order - if the NE does not like something, it isn’t
going to happen, from the highest level of government policy to the
nuts and bolts of everyday river management. Recently I was seeking
permission to build a footbridge across the River Itchen. Fine by us
said the EA, the permitting authority, but we need sign off from the
NE who will not like it. Why not I asked? Posts they said – the NE
don’t like posts in rivers because they are bad for fish. How are
they bad for fish I asked? We don’t know the EA said but that is the
NE default position. I pointed out there is nothing trout love more
than to hang out beside a post, a rock or some kind of obstruction in
a river. The bloke from the EA gave me a “I know mate but there is
f**k all I can do” look before we both agreed it was a hopeless
cause.
The irony of
Natural England is that since its creation by Act of Parliament
in 2006 the organisation tasked to “conserve, enhance and manage
the natural environment for the benefit of present and future
generations, thereby contributing to sustainable development.” has
presided over two decades of environmental of decline. Where were
they when the water companies were given carte blanche
to discharge billions of gallons of untreated sewage? Where were
they when new reservoirs were required? Where were they when the EA
consistently failed in its duty of care to our rivers? Where were
they when Ofwat sided with water companies over water quality? Oh
yes, I know, crafting yet another press release extolling the virtues
of beavers with their apparent super powers to save our rivers. How
is that going, by the way?
As you might
imagine I could go on in this vein for some considerable number of
words, but I will draw to a close by saying two things. Firstly,
Cunliffe was surprisingly forensic – I did not anticipate that he
would even consider the dreadful annual spreading of millions of
tonnes of sewage sludge on farmland that creates a closed loop of
pollution of land and rivers with forever chemicals and
microplastics. And finally, if used as a road map for this and future
generations, Sir Jon Cunliffe should be hopeful of the report he has
written..
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Trout & Salmon - Stardate April 1969
I was recently
gifted a bundle of old copies of Trout & Salmon from which
I randomly selected the April 1969 edition which as full of
surprises.
Firstly, there was
a double page advert announcing that Dermot Wilson had opened his
mail order tackle business here at Nether Wallop Mill which was
something of a coincidence. Secondly, there was an article on the
River Test charting the size of fish caught on what is referred to as
middle Test, that section downstream of Stockbridge and upstream of
Romsey.
The writer BB Pond
discloses the catch record on his regular beat for the previous year.
During one week in Mayfly, 248 trout were caught with a total weight
of 625lb. The best was 4lb 12oz and 55 were in the 3-4lb range. If
you put this down to Mayfly madness, Pond is keen to correct you
stating the numbers for the last week of August, with many fewer
Rods, was 88 trout of 244lb, the best 4lb 14oz with 32 over 3lb. He
goes on to report an 8lb fish at Island Estate, what we now call
Island Farms.
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I know there is
tendency to think of big fish as a strictly modern phenomenon, but I
would struggle to find these sort of catch statistics anywhere today.
It is worth remembering that each and every one of these fish would
have been killed; in the 1960’s catch and release was unheard of,
generally considered bad form with the only fish released those under
12 inches with all grayling to be killed by order.
Were all these
recorded fish wild? I think not – no river, and certainly not middle
Test, would be productive enough to produce such a volume of
fish and I think there is a bit of a hint in the article with Pond
praising the restocking fish reared by the Houghton Club in
Stockbridge. As to the rest of the magazine much of it is spookily
familiar with adverts for Farlow’s, Hardy’s, Sharpe’s of Aberdeen,
Veniard, Barbour and Abu Gacia. In between, the writing has not
changed much with articles on Irish salmon, Yorkshire trout and 'how
to fish' advice.
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That was the month that was July
I was travelling
this month so missed the worst, or best depending on your
perspective, of our super heat. Now it seems to me, as a nation, if
some of the alarmist weather headlines are to be taken at face value,
we are a country well down the road to Sahara status.
However, this is
not how others see us. Take for instance this advert by Range Rover.
I have never seen it shown in the UK, maybe for good reason, but it
definitely allies with my experience of hosting visitors from abroad
who think it rains here ALL THE TIME. Anyway, kudos to the marketing
team at Solihull who have come up with a genuinely laugh-out-loud
advert.
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Despite the
sustained heat the rainfall map for July is all over the place with
the northeast experiencing above average rainfall whilst the
southwest was just under half average with the rest of England
somewhere in between. Likewise, river flows that you might anticipate
would be flashing red (Exceptionally low) everywhere, are equally all
over the place. Just two of the 57 are indeed red whilst the
overwhelming majority (74%) with Normal or higher than normal flows
including three Notably high. Go figure ……
There is no doubt
that as a breed us fly fishers are temperamentally unsuited to
fishing when the thermometer passes heads into the 80’s and as for
the 90’s, we all but give up hope. However, fish have to eat, and
they do regardless of the air temperature so it is more about us than
them when it comes to adapting to freakish English summer weather -
with those who crack the code returning some amazing catches this
month.
Well done to our
Feedback Draw Winner for July, Anthony Buck, who fished at Barton
Court right at the start of the month. Anthony certainly deserves to
win having fished with us more times than any of us care to admit,
dating back a decade or more.
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Three of the
Nigel Nunn August selection (l-r)
Chalkstream Red
Ant, Crackle Back Gnat & Derek… don’t ask!
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August Special Offers coming next week
It will soon
be 2 for 1 time! Keep an eye out for special offers coming your
way next week. If you want a 24 head start sign up for the Special Offer Newsletter alert.
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The usual
random collection of questions this week inspired by the date and
topics today.
1) In which year was the Range Rover first released?
A) 1970 B) 1976 C) 1982
2) Who has been around longer? Barbour, Farlow’s or
Hardy’s?
3) What TV music channel debuted on this day in 1981?
Answers are at
the bottom of this Newsletter.
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Have a good
weekend.
Best wishes,
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1) 1970
2) Farlow’s
1840. Hardy’s 1872 & Barbour 1894
3) MTV with The
Buggles' song "Video Killed the Radio Star”
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