The History, Development, Role and Future of River Restoration Centres - River Conservation and Management - page 267

CHAPTER 23
The History, Development, Role and
Future of River Restoration Centres

Nigel T.H. Holmes 1 and Martin Janes 2
1 Alconbury Environmental Consultants, Warboys, UK
2 River Restoration Centre, Silsoe, UK

Introduction

Harper et al., 1992; Petersen et al., 1992; Brookes
and Shields, 1996). These publications took a
more comprehensive approach to river restoration
compared with the previous narrow focus based
mainly on fisheries enhancements (O'Grady et al.,
1991). They also advocated the need for re-
connecting rivers with their floodplains (Havinga,
1992; Large et al ., 1993). More practical examples
and a means of sharing experiences were required,
so that future work would be more cost-effective. It
was hoped that monitoring the environmental and
economic benefits would garner wider support for
large-scale reversal of the historical degradation of
rivers (Purseglove, 1988).
Legislation enabling and encouraging river
restoration work varies greatly across the world. In
Europe, there are powerful legal obligations that
require Member States to improve the ecological
status of rivers. For example, the 1992 EC Habitats
Directive (Council of the European Communities,
1992) aims to achieve and maintain the 'favourable
conservation status' of particular habitats and
species, including those associated with rivers. The
Directive means that activities affecting 'Special
Areas of Conservation' must not damage the
integrity or ecological functioning of the habitats
and species for which they were designated. It also
implies that steps to restore ecological integrity,
including restorative or mitigation measures, need
to be taken as well as measures to improve linear

The concept of river restoration centres originated
at the 1990 River Conservation and Management
conference in York (Boon et al ., 1992). A paper
given by Nadia Johanisova from Czechoslovakia
entitled 'The struggle to conserve one Czech
river' simultaneously inspired and shamed most
of the delegates. The prime reason was that
in stark contrast to what her local community
was doing for river restoration by their own
volition, very few practical outcomes were being
achieved in countries such as the UK, where
legislation, institutional arrangements and funding
were available for similar work but not being
used. The day after that talk, several like-minded
delegates met to determine what more could
be done to restore rivers and improve water
management in the UK. The result was the
development of the River Restoration Centre (RRC)
(http://www.therrc.co.uk).
In the 1980s and 1990s there was considerable
debate about the terminology defining river
'restoration', 'rehabilitation', 'enhancement' and
also 'mitigation' (Cairns, 1988; Brookes and
Shields, 1996). Several books were published
on the rationale, benefits and justification for
river restoration (Brookes, 1988; Purseglove, 1988;
Harper et al. , 1998) and also explaining the
different approaches for achieving it (Gore, 1985;