Introduction to the Clyde area management plan

Purpose

The purpose of the Clyde area management plan is to maintain and improve the quality of the rivers, lochs, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwaters in the area (shown on map 1). This plan supplements the river basin management plan (RBMP) for the Scotland river basin district, and will help to deliver Water Framework Directive requirements. The plan focuses on local actions and highlights the opportunities for partnership working to ensure that we all benefit from improvements to the water environment.

Delivering improvements will require actions from many partners. The area advisory group will ensure the appropriate networks and stakeholders are involved in this process. The group will also oversee the development of new actions and monitor progress. How this will work is outlined in the ‘putting the plan into action’ section.

The work of the Clyde advisory group can be found on SEPA’s website at: www.sepa.org.uk/water/river_basin_planning/area_advisory_groups/clyde.aspx

The plan has been produced in partnership with members of the Clyde area advisory group. The group expect river basin planning to maintain the water quality of the area and improve the natural function of water habitats, including more native plants and animals living in natural habitats along water edges.

This plan will run from 2009 to 2015, after which it will be reviewed and the next six year cycle of planning will begin. In 2008, just under half of water bodies in the Clyde advisory group area were classified as being at good or high ecological status. This plan aims to maintain their good status and to secure continuous improvement in the ecological status of water bodies that are currently less than good status. The planned improvement targets until 2027 are set out in Table 1.

Table 1: Overview of planned improvements in the Clyde advisory group area, 2010–2027
	2008	2015	2021	2027
% of surface water bodies at good (or high) ecological status	44%	49%	61%	96%
% of groundwaters at good status	57%	66%	71%	80%

What area does this plan cover?

The Clyde advisory group area includes all of the land that drains into several large rivers, including the River Clyde, Ayr, Irvine, Leven, White and Black Cart Waters and the River Kelvin. The area covers over 11,139km² and is one of contrasting landscapes: the north includes a large proportion of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, while the south includes Ayrshire and Lanarkshire. The area also includes the large population centre of the City of Glasgow, where approximately 600,000 people live, and the vast coastline out into the Firth of Clyde which includes sea lochs, the Cowal peninsula and the islands of Bute and Arran. It also includes groundwater, which provides flow in many rivers.

Map 1: Clyde advisory group area showing main catchments (click for larger image)

How to use the Clyde area management plan

This plan is for the Clyde area advisory group and others who manage or use the water environment, those managing activities on land that interacts with the water environment and those who want to know more about how our water environment is being protected. The plan is designed to provide a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of protection and improvements to the water environment in this area.

This plan is to co-ordinate the delivery of the river basin management plan for the Scotland river basin district within the Clyde advisory group area. You may find it helpful to see how the aims and objectives of this area management plan will contribute to what we are trying to achieve on a larger, national scale. The Scotland river basin district plan also includes a number of chapters that explain the different parts of the river basin planning process.

This plan has three key components:

Area management plan summary (this document) is an overview of the Clyde advisory group area including classification, objectives, key measures and an outline of the work plan for the Clyde advisory group for the next year.
Catchment profiles provide information on classification, pressures, measures and objectives for each catchment. Catchment profiles will be produced over the next 6 months to a year and will be developed and kept as live documents during this first river basin planning cycle.
Action plan with information about how the advisory group will work together to deliver the district plan and a record of where new actions are being developed. This will also be kept relevant as a live document during the first river basin planning cycle.

The environmental quality and natural characteristics of surface waters and groundwater vary widely. To reflect this variation SEPA has subdivided the water environment into water bodies. Detailed information for individual water bodies (whether they are part of the coast, groundwater, rivers, lochs or estuaries) is held in the web-based interactive map available on the SEPA website at www.sepa.org.uk/water/river_basin_planning.aspx

The organisations that are part of the Clyde area advisory group helped to develop this plan. This group is responsible for sharing the information contained in the plan with a wider range of stakeholders, to encourage them to implement the actions where required in the Clyde advisory group area. SEPA’s role in the development of the plan has been to provide information, particularly with regard to classification, and to co-ordinate information and input from others. In this document ‘we’ refers to all those involved in the production of this report, not just SEPA.

A wider forum has also been established. The forum is open to the public and provides an opportunity for a wider group of stakeholders to be involved in planning developments.