Sussex River to be the first in England to have its own rights

The council passed a motion that marks the first step towards creating a Rights of River Ouse Charter to secure the river's health and its right to be pollution-free within two years.

Councillor Matthew Bird, Cabinet Member for Sustainability, proposed the Rights of River motion at Monday’s (February 20) Full Council.

He said: "Our waterways face constant harm from pollution, road runoff, development and climate change and the health and wellbeing of the River Ouse is severely under threat.

"This motion is the first step towards a Rights of River Ouse Charter through which the health and wellbeing of the river is represented and voiced by local communities throughout the Ouse Valley catchment."

Rights of the River aims to treat rivers as a living entity in its own right and is part of globally growing idea to extend legal rights to these natural flowing watercourses.

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Lewes will be the first council in England to pass a motion of this kind, which will provide the Sussex river with intrinsic rights such as as the right to flow and the right to be free from pollution.

The motion, brought to the council by Green Party members, was supported by various organisations including the Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust, Sussex Wildlife Trust and the Environmental Law Foundation.

Rights of Rivers was introduced as a concept at the Love Our Ouse River Festival in September last year, where people from across the Lewes district first proposed a draft charter for the river.