Residents invited to attend Waterways Day

Residents of West Oxfordshire are invited to attend Waterways Day which will take place on Friday 18 November from 9.30 to 17:30 at West Oxfordshire District Council offices at Woodgreen, Witney.

Cabinet member for Environment, Cllr Lidia Arciszewska said, “River pollution and flooding issues are close to the hearts of the vast majority of our residents.

“We are hosting a Waterways Day to bring together major local stakeholders and experts to give the residents of our district an opportunity to hear about the current state of our watercourses and to learn how to restore their broken ecology and how to manage them to prevent flooding."

The talks will be held in two sessions:

Morning

• Richard Aylard - Thames Water
• Ashley Smith and Prof Peter Hammond– Windrush against Sewage Pollution
• Eoghan Concannon - Evenlode Catchment Partnership /Wild Oxfordshire 
• Prof Richard Harding – Campaign to Protect Rural England, Oxfordshire

 Afternoon

• Nick Mottram - Oxfordshire County Council
• William Wareing - Witney Flood Mitigation Group
• Lisa Lane – Bucks, Berkshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust
• David Green - Blenheim Estates
• 
  

There will be ample opportunities for Q&A and discussions.

Participating organisations will also attend stalls to give residents the opportunity for direct interaction with the experts.

Stalls

• Blenheim Estates
• Berks, Bucks & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust
• Campaign to Protect Rural England (Oxfordshire)
• Evenlode Catchment Partnership/Wild Oxfordshire
• Oxfordshire County Council
• Riverside Gardens
• Wychwood project
• Thames Water
• Windrush Catchment Partnership 
• WASP, Windrush against Sewage Pollution
• William Wareing - Witney Flood Mitigation Group
• 
  

To allow the district to estimate the number of attendees, residents are encouraged to register their interest via the Eventbrite page but anyone can turn up on the day as well.

Residents are welcome to submit questions prior to the event to allow the speakers to prepare their answers. Questions can be submitted via our online form until 3 November 2022.

The Environment Agency (EA) is unable to attend the event so residents are invited to submit their questions for them which will be given to the EA in advance and responses provided on the day.

Full information on the event can be found on the council's website at https://westoxon.gov.uk/WaterwaysDay. This includes timings for the talks and parking information.