OCSG January Meeting - Minutes from previous meeting

Hello All,

A quick post to thank everybody who came to the meeting last night, it was the largest we had 19 people attending. Lets hope our group can have new members in the next couple of months.
The minutes of the previous meeting have been agreed with some minor changes.
Here is the updated version.
The next OCSG meeting will take place on the 19th February 2008 at Newcastle University, the main focus will be the DEFRA Making Space for Water March public meeting as we are co-organising it with the Environment Agency.
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Present:

Paul Quinn (University of Newcastle)

Sebastien Tellier (JBA Consulting)

Peter Redpath (Red House Farm residents association)

Archie Ruggles-Brise (Tyne Rivers Trust)

Steve Barrett (Woolsington resident association)

Graham Siddle (Environment Agency)

Brian Mark (Resident)

Rick Anderson (Ouseburn Community Centre)

Howard Elcock (CPRE NE)

Ken Heads (Newcastle University)

Colin Percy (Newcastle City Council)

Bob Wilkin (Resident Garden Village)

Anna Newson (Friends of Jesmond Dene)

Apologies:

Allan Snape (Northumbrian Water Limited)

Richard Robinson (Environment Agency)

Bill Colwell (CPRE NE)

Jessica Grinsted (Living Waterways Project)

Phil Bell (Melbury Park Resident Association)

Sarah French (Groundwork NE)

Sue Wannop (Newcastle City Council)

Helen Hayden (Newcastle International Airport)

MINUTES

1.Comments on the last minutes

Minutes from the July meeting were agreed during the meeting.

2.News

Jesmond Dene Big Lottery bid

ST met with Sue Stokel Walker (SSW) and the Jesmond Dene Rangers (Sarah and Jill) on 26^th September to discuss the Heritage Lottery Foundation (HLF) bid. Phase 1 of the HLF bid has been accepted and Newcastle City Council is finalising its details and will submit it in March 2008. SSW stated that all the money has already been allocated and no money from Phase 1 will be available for any joint project with the OCSG.

One action of this meeting was to set up a site visit in Jesmond Dene with NWL and the EA to tackle the “smell” issue in the park. SSW and the Rangers stated that the smell comes from the drain and not the river itself.

Anna Newson (AN) stated that Phase 1 of the HLF bid is worth £5 million and most of the funding is spent on landscaping and the building of a new visitor centre. Brian Marks (BM) noted that landscaping without integrating with the water seemed to be a missed opportunity, he thought that Jesmond Dene is a beautiful area but the access should be improved.

Paul Quinn (PQ) mentioned that he spotted grey fungus/sewage contamination on the river bed and this could cause some health issues to the children occasionally bathing in the Ouseburn. PQ would like to propose to create a water storage feature in the upper section of Jesmond Dene (downstream of South Gosforth round about up to Crag Hall gauging station). This feature will be multi-purposes (flood storage, treatment zone, amenity) and is the type of activity the OCSG is promoting for the Ouseburn catchment.

Bob Wilkin (BW) noted that the pollution issue has been present in Jesmond Dene since 1976 when they built the drainage network throughout Armstrong Park (twin sewage pipe through the whole park, buried under the main path). It was once considered to build up a vertical chimney to force the sewer gas upwards and therefore remove the smell from the park.

Sebastien Tellier (ST) reported that the Rangers mentioned that during the 1^st July 2007 storm, the cover of some of the drains lifted and raw sewage came out and possibly leaked into the river.

BM proposed that Newcastle City Council spends some money on water monitoring to assess the current water quality. PQ mentioned that it is the Environment Agency responsibility to monitor the river quality (the Agency sampled the river 12 times a year) but this should be done after a storm event as it will give a better representation of the type of pollution occurring in the Ouseburn (possible contamination from sewer outfalls or else). PQ would like Phase 2 of the HLF to look into this issue.

Steve Barratt (SB) asked Graham Siddle (GS) the current quality of the Ouseburn and wondered what will be the cost to raise the current water quality objectives.

ST mentioned that the current ecological status for the Ouseburn is on the following website (http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/maps/info/river/ then insert your postcode in the What’s in your backyard window). ST stated that the as long as the Ouseburn is complying to its current target (poor quality) the Environment Agency does not have to invest in measures to improve its quality. ST also mentioned that changing the water quality objectives for the Ouseburn should be one of the objectives of the OCSG as it will have an impact in the whole catchment (less combined sewer overflow discharges, more habitat restoration, etc).

BM proposed that a fraction of the HLF bid could look into this (£10-15,000 out of £5Million).

OCSG should propose a joint project with Newcastle City Council to include in phase 2 a water monitoring project. AN and BW proposed that the Environment Agency should be integrant part of such a project.

ACTION: ST and PQ set up the site visit for the 17^th October. ST to inform AN, BW, Jessica Grinsted (JG) and Peter Redpath (PR) of the arrangements.

ST and PQ to keep in contact with SSW to discuss water quality monitoring and water storage feature feasibility study for phase 2 of the HLF funding programme.
UPDATE: The site visit took place in Jesmond Dene with Graham Siddle and Neil Affleck from the EA, Steve Robson from NWL. The Jesmond Dene rangers showed to both organisations the issues about the drains (cracked cover, leaking cover, some causing bank erosion). NWL and the EA were not aware of the situation and Steve Robson promised to send a map of the locations of the drain covers in Jesmond Dene. AN, PR and JG also attended.

Ken Heads from Newcastle University was welcome to the meeting

Ken Heads is doing an MSc in Sustainable Management of the Water Environment and will look at the NWL Red House Farm scheme as part of his dissertation. He will investigate alternatives to spend the £5Million budget.

Environment Agency – Water Framework Directive consultation process for Northumbrian River Basin

The Environment Agency is the agency responsible in Great Britain to apply the Directive and has set up an “online only“ consultation for the Northumbrian River Basin. PQ mentioned that neither Newcastle University and the OCSG were consulted despite having contacted the Environment Agency officer, Ellie Simpson.

ACTION:OCSG to invite Ellie Simpson to talk about the WFD and its consequences for the Ouseburn river.

Newcastle Journal Go Green article in collaboration with Newcastle International Airport

ST was contacted by Helen Hayden from Newcastle International Airport to contribute to the Chronicle “Go Green” article. GS mentioned that the Agency is paying for the “Go Green” articles and that the OCSG should contact Liz Bunton to submit a full length article.

ACTION: PQ and ST to submit an article and will plan a full length article in the near future.

UPDATE: PQ & ST submitted the article and Amy Hunt from the Chronicle got in touch with ST about the lower Ouseburn barrage.

3. OCSG Draft Constitution

ST circulated a draft constitution document after receiving a copy from Archie Ruggles-Brise (ARB), nobody from the email list contributed to it and therefore it became an item for today’s meeting.

Rick Anderson (RA) thought that the term working in partnership includes a self-censorship idea as we will be dependent on the different partners.

ARB replied by saying that without partnerships you can’t get any work done, you only need to define carefully the partnership work agreements and work closely with the partners.

PQ reiterated that our mission is to invite people to attend OCSG meetings and provide information about the current activities in the catchment.

BM mentioned that current OCSG members are representing an organization (EA, Newcastle City Council, Northumbrian Water Limited, Newcastle University, etc) but are also here as residents.

BM explained that there are three types of members:

1.Responsible for a public organization;

2. Individual/Resident;

3.Corporate Membership.

ACTION: After a lengthy discussion, it was agreed that the OCSG has to advertise more as there is a need to replenish the current member’s list, this is inherent to any steering committee. ST will re-circulate the draft document and it will be re-examined during next meeting.

4. DEFRA Making Space for Water – Feedback of Summer Public Meeting

PQ thanked that all the members for their contributions to the meeting, especially Bob Wilkin, Steve Barratt and Peter Redpath for providing photographs, artefacts and their local knowledge for the OCSG posters.

ARB that it was a good meeting, well attended but lacking of press coverage and he mentioned that he will be happy to help for the press release for the next public meeting in March 2008.

PQ stated that the DEFRA project is finishing in April and OCSG will have something to present for the public meeting as PQ has two students working on Ouseburn related projects: a river restoration scheme for the upper Ouseburn to reconnect the river with the Newcastle Great Park ponds and revisiting Northumbrian Water Limited project for Red House Farm estate (surface and foul water diverted downstream of Red House Farm, near Three Mile bridge).

Details of these two projects will be presented at the March DEFRA meeting.

5. Any Other Business

Awards for All

ST has not written the application form yet as the OCSG needs a constitution in order to be an grant applicant.

ACTION: ST and PQ to write the application before the end of the DEFRA Making Space for Water Programme (April 2008).

Ouseburn barrage – Invitation to join Ouseburn River Users Group

ST was invited to come along the Ouseburn River Users Group, which a group created by Newcastle City Council for the public consultation of the Ouseburn barrage. The scope of this group is defined as below in the terms of reference:

“The focus of the group will be to comment and contribute to all areas affecting the operation of the barrage, navigation in the Ouseburn and the local environment and amenities. Any recommendation or matter raised by the group must be addressed by Newcastle City Council unless an appropriate reason is provided.”

ACTION: ST proposed Rick Anderson as the OCSG member to go to the meetings either along with ST or without him when ST can’t attend. ST contacted Christine Earl and waiting to hear about the next meeting (the previous meetings took place in April and August 2007).

A1 Development

PQ mentioned that the future development of the A1 near Newcastle Great Park has been mentioned during a meeting with Richard Robinson, Tony Mc Kenna (Aone consortium), ST and CP. However it seems to be at an early stage and Tony Mc Kenna could not confirm it was the case.

SB talked about the possible detrimental effect of the A696 upstream of the A1. The A696 impact of flooding will be looked into for the DEFRA Making Space for Water project in the next six months.

Tyne Rivers Trust new project officer

Tyne Rivers Trust recruited a new project officer for the River Watch project, Ceri Gibson, and ARB asked if she could represent the Trust for the next OCSG meetings.

Steve Barrett – U Decide project

SB has presented a project to the You Decide panel to maintain the Woolsington ponds he showed us this summer. One of the components of his project is to do some river monitoring in the Ouseburn. SB will get in touch with Bill Colwell as the latter has been trained this summer to do invertebrates sampling.

OCSG 15th January Meeting

Dear All,

Here is a reminder for the next OCSG meeting. The meeting will take place at Newcastle University on Tuesday 15^th January, starting at 6pm until 7:30 at the latest.

Main item is the Lower Ouseburn barrage and we should get an update from our very active members. If Newcastle City Council would like to send an officer to update our group, he/she is more than welcome.
I have attached the meeting agenda and also the draft minutes from the October meeting. If you have any comments regarding the minutes, please come back to me before the meeting and I will amend them in time.
So, could you please confirm with me your attendance and I am looking forward to see you all again,

--
Sebastien Tellier
Ouseburn Catchment Steering Commitee Coordinator
email: ouseburncsg@googlemail.com
Blog: http://ouseburnplan.blogspot.com/

Here is the Agenda for the meeting.

THE OUSEBURN CATCHMENT STEERING COMMITTEE

TUESDAY 15^th January 2007

Cassie Building, ROOM 101

18:00-19:30

AGENDA

APPROVAL OF October 2007 MEETING MINUTES

NEWS ITEMS

Upper Ouseburn MS4W progress

Jesmond Dene Site Visit follow-up

OSCG Draft Constitution

LOWER OUSEBURN BARRAGE

Background and where are we at now?

River management strategy:

Newcastle City Council/OCSG/Entec initiative

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

NEXT MEETING DATE AND LOCATION

Meeting at 18:00 on Tuesday 15th January 2008, refreshments from 17:45

Side entrance of the Cassie building on University of Newcastle campus.

Response from Newcastle City Council to my email

Dear all,

I emailed Lara Baker and Colin Percy from Newcastle City Council last week after receiving John Miller's letter asking them if they knew what was happening before I got the letter. Colin said that he was not aware of anything. Lara Baker replied to me in a long email detailing what happened the week before.
I will let you being judge of the situation. One more thing is to say that I heard that the decision to not send the consultant involved in this project was taken on Thursday 8th November. I received the letter from John Miller on the 12th.

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JANUARY 2008 UPDATE

The text of the email was removed on Monday 14th January 2008 after Lara Baker mentioned that the email was confidential and only addressed to me, the OCSG Chairman and two Council officers.
The OCSG has decided to remove it in order to avoid any conflicts with Newcastle City Council legal team.
If you have any comments, please post them on this blog!
Sebastien

November meeting cancelled!

Dear All,

The 13th November has been cancelled. You will find below the letter I received on the 12th November from John Miller regarding the matter. Keep watching this space as I will soon update the blog with a post on Jesmond Dene site visit and our next meeting.

Sebastien

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John Miller

Head of Sustainable Development
Regeneration Directorate Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8PD

Phone: 0191 211 6002 Fax: (0191) 211 4978 www.newcastle.gov.uk

Our Reference: JFM/JC

Your Reference:

12^th November 2007

Sebastien Tellier

JBA Consulting

St Nicholas Chambers,

Amen Corner,

The Side,

Newcastle upon Tyne,

NE1 1PE, UK

Dear Sebastien

Ouseburn River Improvement Scheme (including barrage) – Progress Report of Ouseburn Catchment Steering Group: November 2007

Thanks for requesting the Council’s attendance at the meeting of the Ouseburn Catchment Steering Group (OCSG) on 13th November.
Unfortunately, due to other commitments, the Council and their representatives will be unable to attend the meeting in person.
However, I have provided an update note on the progress one the Ouseburn Barrage since the Public Inquiry in September 2006
for your information. 

The project is centred upon the implementation of the Ouseburn River Improvement Scheme (ORIS) via the construction of a weir
with guillotine gate lock structure (the Barrage) within the river under Glass House Bridge close to the junction of the estuary with
the River Tyne.  The construction of a barrage will create a linear freshwater lake or canal through the retention of a permanent
depth of water behind the structure. The project also includes other river improvements including quay wall repairs, landscaping
and river management for wildlife.

There has been extensive consultation throughout the development of the project with local stakeholders and statutory/non statutory bodies. This began in 2000 when options for improving the river were being considered. The Options Study was informed by discussions with the Ouseburn River Improvement Strategy Steering Group which comprised the Ouseburn Partnership, the Council, the Ouseburn Trust, the Environment Agency, Northumbrian Water Ltd and the Port of Tyne Authority. A number of public forums were held in the valley along with consultations with various bodies between 2000 and 2003 to allow people to the view the options under consideration and make comments.

On 11 November 2004 the Council submitted an application for an Order under the Transport and Works Act 1992 with an Environmental Statement and Appendices. It deposited these documents and advertised them, carrying out a statutory consultation in accordance with the Transport and Works Act (Applications and Objections Procedure) (England and Wales) Rules 2000, allowing 6 weeks for objections to be submitted to the Secretary of State. At the same time it submitted an application to the local planning

authority for conservation area consent. During the 6 week objection period, 10 letters of objection and 2 letters of support were submitted to the Department for Transport. The majority of these objections were withdrawn following discussions with the Council. Further letters of objections and support were also received post submission. A Public Inquiry took place in September 2006.

Following the Public Inquiry, I am pleased to advise that approval was granted by the Secretary
of State for Transport to construct the barrage in accordance with the Transport and Works Act 1992
- Ouseburn Barrage Order.
In recommending approval of the barrage, the Inspector stated that:

“the wide-ranging regeneration and socio-economic benefits of the scheme
would clearly outweigh the limited environmental impacts that would remain
after mitigation. The case for making the Order, including the proposed
compulsory purchase powers, is compelling and in the public interest”

Following this decision, the Council awarded a stage 1 design contract
after a competitive tendering process in order to work up detailed designs
for the scheme and the operating requirements. This work is ongoing in discussion
with external agencies. The current programme for design and construction is attached.
It is anticipated that the project will start on site in January 2008, with completion in December 2008.

The current funding portfolio for the scheme is as follows: 

Bridging Newcastle Gateshead       £   150,000           (secured)

Single Programme                            £1,400,000           (application made to One North East)

ERDF                                                  £1,000,000           (application made to Government Office)

Developer Contributions                   £   800,000           (agreed by Executive Mar 03)

The final costs of the scheme have yet to be agreed and are dependent on final detailed design and progress on various operating protocols
including those set out in the Council’s Deeds of Undertaking with the Environment Agency, Northumbrian Water Ltd, Natural England and
the Royal Yachting Association.
A report considering, funding, costs, operating protocols and risks will be submitted to the Council’s Executive
on 19th December 2007.

I understand that the OSCG are particularly interested in the agreement with Natural England and that you have a copy of this agreement.
The Council and their representatives met with Natural England in April 2007. (Minutes of this meeting are attached for you information).
Subject to approval at Executive in December, the Council and their representatives will draw up detailed on-site and off-site river management
plans for consideration by Natural England in accordance with the agreement. The Council will be happy to present and discuss these proposals
to the OCSG and would welcome the Group’s comments when progress on this has been made. This is likely to be in January next year.

In the meantime, if you have any queries in respect of the above, please let me have your comments either in writing, or via Colin Percy, the Council’s representative at your Group, and I will respond accordingly.

Yours Sincerely

John Miller

Head of Sustainable Development

OCSG November Meeting: Lower Ouseburn Barrage focus

Dear All,

A short message to announce that the OCSG is organising a meeting on the 13th November to talk about the lower Ouseburn barrage and its impacts on the river ecology. We would like to have a presentation from Byzak and Newcastle City Council about the project timetable and the river management strategy.
Here is the agenda for the meeting:

THE OUSEBURN CATCHMENT STEERING COMMITTEE

TUESDAY 13^th November 2007

Byker City Farm,

Lime Street

18:00-19:30

AGENDA

1. APPROVAL OF October 2007 MEETING MINUTES

· Jesmond Site visit – 17^th Oct with NWL,EA;

· OSCG Draft Constitution

· Chronicle Go Green Article

2. NEWS ITEMS

3. LOWER OUSEBURN BARRAGE

· Background and where are we at now?

· River management strategy:

Newcastle City Council/OCSG/Entec initiative?

4. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

5. NEXT MEETING DATE AND LOCATION

Byker City Farm, Lime Street, Newcastle upon Tyne Tel: 0191 232 3698

Byker City Farm, Lime Street, Newcastle upon Tyne Tel: 0191 232 3698

If you would like to attend, please email me at: ouseburncsg@googlemail.com
Sebastien

DEFRA Project Manager visiting the Upper Ouseburn team

Dear All,

On Friday 4th May the project manager of the DEFRA programme, Elliot Gill (Halcrow) is visiting the DEFRA team for a progress report. Paul Quinn and I will attend the meeting on the behalf of Newcastle University and the Ouseburn Catchment Steering Committee.
I will attend next week the second workshop of the DEFRA. This will give us an opportunity to meet some of the other participants to this nationwide project. I will do a short presentation during our next OCSG meeting.
I am currently setting up the next OCSG meeting and it should take place in Woolsington after a walk along the Ouseburn. I will post the information on this blog as soon as everything is confirmed.

Sebastien

Back in business!

Dear All,

The Ouseburn Catchment Steering Group has set up a bank account through the Tyne Rivers Trust and is expecting to receive £5000 in the next few weeks.
Part of this this money will be spent on me (Sebastien), I have a series of tasks to perform. Here is a short list:

• Set up a meeting with Colin Percy, Steve Lowe, Paul Quinn and Rick Anderson to define the constitution for the Ouseburn CSG;

• Write up the Action Plan for the Ouseburn Catchment Plan. A draft was released last year as part of the PURE project and the OSCG found the Action Plan to be less comprehensive that it should have been. I will work with Paul Quinn and Archie Ruggles-Brise on the Action Plan;

• Set up the Ouseburn River Watch for the Upper Ouseburn with Paul Quinn, Archie Ruggles-Brise, Sebastien Tellier, Peter Redpath and Philip Bell;

• Get involved with the Heritage and Big Lottery funds regarding the Ouseburn Parks (Jesmond Dene, Heaton Park, etc). I need to get in touch with Sue Stokes-Walker and Amanda Watson from Newcastle City Council to get hold of the copy of the document as we would like to be aware of any river rehabilitation works;

• Raising more funds for the OSCG through businesses links (Greggs, Newcastle International Airport, SAGE, Newcastle City Council, Northumbrian Water Limited, Northern Rock, etc). This involve contacting the companies and explain our goals and how they could help us to achieve them;

• Organise the OSCG meetings (sending emails, letter, writing minutes, etc) and future public meeting (summer public consultation event sponsored by the DEFRA Making Space for Water Programme, site visit of the Upper Ouseburn led by Steve Barrett;

• Contact the Lower Ouseburn team regarding the Ouseburn barrage and see how the OSCG can be part of the regeneration consultation process for the Lower Ouseburn;

• Gathering data and understanding of the Upper Ouseburn development as part of the DEFRA Making Space for Water programme.

This short list of tasks will probably change in the next few months but I see it as a good starting point.

My next post will be about reporting the site visit and I will put online the minutes of our last meetings.

In the meantime, feel free to contact me, especially if you want to contribute to this blog.

Sebastien