Great Yorkshire Rivers partners have come together to celebrate progress made in tackling artificial barriers to improve fish passage in the county’s rivers and lay out ambitious plans for the years ahead.

The Great Yorkshire Rivers partnership brings together Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency and the Rivers Trust and 13 local river trusts, environmental organisations and charities from across Yorkshire to tackle artificial barriers such as weirs, which can prevent fish and wildlife moving freely and affect natural river processes.

On the banks of the river Aire, partners including Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, North York Moors National Park, and all of Yorkshire’s River Trusts, came together to celebrate the completion of more than 20 projects, with a further 20-plus in progress.

Partnership work delivered through local rivers’ trust groups, wildlife and conservation groups and local ‘friends of’ has opened up nearly 100km of river, alongside extensive mapping and prioritisation of barriers and engagement with landowners.

Great Yorkshire Rivers is supported by £8.7 million through Yorkshire Water's WINEP programme, with a £10.3 million match-funding target and a further £3.4m allocated through an Ofwat redress package. Funding is provided through a combination of core and enabling funds, helping partners deliver meaningful environmental improvements across Yorkshire.

However, the partnership’s impact goes beyond investing in physical river restoration projects. It is also strengthening the long-term resilience of the sector by helping organisations across Yorkshire develop the skills, knowledge and capacity needed to continue protecting and enhancing rivers for years to come.

Twenty new roles have been created across partner organisations and the Great Yorkshire Rivers team. The partnership has recorded more than 150 volunteer hours and partners have taken part in more than 800 hours of training and collaboration.

More broadly, Great Yorkshire Rivers partners are looking at how they can move beyond individual, opportunistic projects towards more strategic catchment-scale planning, build a stronger evidence base, strengthen cross-sector partnerships and address challenges including permitting and rising delivery costs.

The partnership is also beginning discussions about its longer-term scope and ambition, including future funding, partner capacity and the evidence needed to demonstrate its positive impact. One of the long-term successes is the potential expansion of the partnership model into other water company areas as a future opportunity.

Its long-term vision is to address all artificial barriers that negatively impact fish populations across Yorkshire by 2043, while delivering wider benefits for rivers and communities.