A RIVER conservation trust, which has seen sewage and construction site spills devastate natural habitat along the River Aire, has been awarded £20,000 of National Lottery funding to help ensure such incidents never happen again.

The Aire Rivers Trust says it will use the grant from The National Lottery Community Fund, to recruit volunteers up and down the river to monitor its health and identify incidents of contamination.

The project will combine the trust’s long term team of 20 volunteers, who count river bugs each month in Bradford and Leeds, with large rounds of volunteering that focus on single issues - such as hidden pipes that flow into the river and non-native plants that smother native vegetation.

The organisation hopes to improve the river’s health by extending its volunteer network along the 92 miles of river.

Simon Watts, Operations Manager at Aire Rivers Trust, said: “As a Rivers Trust we’re ideally placed to improve our rivers. River Aire Pollution Spotters not only help find polluters, but also help find locations where improving our river could make the biggest difference.

"This funding will enable us to continue to offer support to our monitors and bring together more volunteers to identify and challenge incidents of pollution along our river.”

Recent activities by the group include an ‘Outfall Safari’, which saw 60 volunteers walk along the river in Gargrave, Skipton, Keighley, Bingley, and Leeds, looking for rogue pipes that may be spilling pollution from homes and businesses. This resulted in more than 600 potential sources of pollution being recorded, with the most severe of these being reported to the Environment Agency.

Simon added: “Sadly, poor water quality in the River Aire limits its potential for recreation, with incidents of kayakers feeling unwell being a huge cause for concern. We won’t fix this in a year, or even several, but one day, we’d love to see significant change.

“Thank you to The National Lottery Community Fund and National Lottery players, this grant will allow us to greatly expand our volunteering network and better understand the river and how best we can safeguard it so that it can be enjoyed by future generations.”

Like many groups, Aire Rivers Trust has benefitted from the recent change to The National Lottery Community Fund’s flagship funding programme, National Lottery Awards for All.

So far almost 1,000 charities and community groups have benefitted from a new maximum award of £20,000 and a two-year grant term, signifying the funder’s ambition to invest most in places, people and communities experiencing poverty, disadvantage and discrimination. Read their strategy, ‘It starts with community’, to find out more.

Joe Dobson, Head of Funding for Yorkshire and Humberside at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “The problem of river pollution is well documented, with a number of recent high-profile cases highlighting the huge amount of harm that it can have on our natural environment.

"Organisations like Aire Rivers Trust help repair some of the damage done and protect these vital ecosystems for future generations to enjoy – strengthening society and improving the lives of local people.

“The change we’ve made to National Lottery Awards for All shows our commitment to supporting grassroots action. We’re pleased to see many projects like this already taking the opportunity to go bigger and bolder with their plans to support their community.”

The Aire Rivers Trust is one of over 260 charities and community groups across Yorkshire and the Humber to have been awarded almost £17 million of National Lottery funding over the last three months.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk