The River Beane - historic, rare and precious

Welcome to the website of the River Beane Catchment Partnership, and the home of the Beane Catchment Management Plan.  Our Catchment Plan will improve the river for wildlife and for people. It will also help us to meet the UK's obligations under the Water Framework Directive.

Latest news for the River Beane

The River Beane Catchment Partnership gathered on 09 Dec 2022 to recap on progress made over the year towards improving the state of the river and its valley.

On Friday the 20th August, come and meet representatives from the Environment Agency and Hertfordshire County Council who are working on a project to re-naturalise this section of the River Beane.

We have been selectivly removing trees that may pose a risk to the footpath running alongside the channel, or to the stability of the bank between the mill race and the River Beane where the breach as occurred. 

At the start of April 2017 Affinity Water reduced the amount of water they take from the environment by eighteen million litres per day (18Ml/d) at one of their pumping stations near Watton-at-Stone. The particular pumping station linked to the River Beane has been used since the 1950s, and it is expected that reducing the abstractions will benefit flows in the chalk stream and surrounding environment.

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Themes and objectives

Theme: FlowFlow - getting more water back into the river.

Theme: QualityImproving the water quality, habitats and wildlife.

Theme: PeopleHelping people appreciate and get the most out of the river.

Theme: MonitoringMeasuring the river's ecological status and monitoring its health.

Design by LTD Design Consultants and build by Garganey Consulting.