CRP in context

Cornwall Rivers Project is directed toward the rehabilitation of the key rivers and their catchments across the whole of the Cornwall Objective 1 area. This exciting project seeks to develop and expand the successful work of the Westcountry Rivers Trust's Westcountry Rivers Project in Devon and it's Tamar 2000 SUPPORT Project to protect and preserve, rehabilitate, enhance and restore our river heritage in the South West, while sustaining local communities.

The project will contribute towards the four strategic objectives of the Objective 1 programme i.e.:

  • To increase absolute prosperity
  • To support agricultural adjustment
  • To support communities faced with change; and
  • To enhance regional distinctiveness
The ability of catchment based advisory projects to meet the objectives outlined above has already been successfully demonstrated in the Westcountry Rivers Trust's Tamar 2000 SUPPORT Project. This focused pathfinder project with its radical new approach has engendered considerable support for its extension to the wider community of Cornwall and beyond. It has provided a practical example of how an integrated participatory approach can be implemented to enhance and maintain environmental quality for both people and wildlife, at the same time providing increased revenues and employment.

Some specific features of CRP

  • The Project uniquely features the integrated application of proven best land use practice and water resource management delivered on a catchment community scale through the direct active participation of stakeholders
  • The Project provides the practical means to protect, rehabilitate and restore the catchments of key rivers that are so significant to the heritage and economy of Cornwall. These catchments have suffered environmental degradation as a result of unsustainable land use practices in recent decades. Uniquely, the project approach tackles the causes as well as the symptoms of environmental decline
  • The Project will help to safeguard existing jobs and create new jobs by protecting the environment, identifying potential for reductions in farming costs and providing new or improved enterprise opportunities