Our Aims

The River South Esk catchment covers a large area of Angus and is drained by the River South Esk and its tributaries.

The catchment supports a wide range of economic activity in industries such as farming, forestry, fisheries, tourism and recreation and is a source of private drinking water and the river and the area support a rich variety of wildlife.

At first glance this attractive area would appear to be in perfect condition due to the wide range of wildlife it supports. However, monitoring and consultation suggest otherwise.

Ongoing pressures placed on the area and continual changes in the law which affect activities carried out in the area have reinforced the need to develop a more joined-up approach to the way this water resource is managed.

To tackle these matters, representatives of various organisations have been meeting regularly since 2004 with the aim of developing a catchment management plan.

Gradually an informal steering group which included representatives from many stakeholders and the River South Esk Catchment Partnership was born.

The process of developing the catchment management plan began in earnest in 2008. A great deal of consultation with the public over the following year to capture people’s views on what they considered the main environmental, social and economic issues to be.

What does the Catchment Management Plan for the River South Esk aim to achieve?

The Catchment Management Plan (CMP) brings together all of the users of the River South Esk catchment.

The consultation processes allowed users to firstly propose, discuss and agree the main environmental, social and economic issues affecting the catchment and then develop aims to carry out actions which will guide the future management of activities within the catchment in a sustainable way.

The six topics include:

  • Quality of water
  • Water resources
  • Managing floods
  • River engineering
  • Habitats and species and
  • Socio-economics factors.

The ‘action cards’, are broken down further into 17 catchment objectives and finally into 65 individual actions. Please see the catchment plan for further information.

Download the Dec 2009 edition of the River South Esk Catchment Management Plan

 

Geographic Location