Ruscombe Brook; a look back at the action group 2005-2015

Two of our leaflets

I've had several folks interested in hearing more about our Action Group - not least Keith Davitte who has written the most recent book about Whiteshill and Ruscombe - so here below is the article I've written for The WaRbler quarterly magazine. As noted previously sadly we lost our first website and contents so this is by no means a complete story - it was also really hard to pick up on the key highlights - so much happened with this group - it was a privilege to be part of it and learn so much.

Twenty years ago raw sewage was repeatedly overflowing from local sewers into the brook and surrounding farmland. I had thought it would be easy to end this significant health hazard, but quickly realised there were many challenges, not least understanding the cause. The Ruscombe Brook Action Group (RBAG) was formed and with the help of another group, Water 21, we sort to educate ourselves and engage with Severn Trent (ST).

Initially ST denied there was a problem as many incidents hadn’t been reported. However the number of times they were called out plus a collection of ‘colourful’ photos made it clear there was issue. We set up an agreement with stakeholders to find a solution together to the problems along our 2 mile long brook. ST, councils and others signed. As we reported further incidents more local people got involved. Seventy residents came to our first public meeting at Ebley Mill much to the surprise of ST.

Our local activities included;

• Several clean-up days; many bags of rubbish including two buckets of sanitary wear but only one shopping trolley.
• Talks to local groups and schools to raise awareness: one group painted a 15m mural of the brook at Whiteshill and Ruscombe Primary school and one class got involved in testing the water quality.
• Walks with biodiversity experts.
• Working with British Waterways and others over plans to dredge the ‘Lake at the Lawns’ situated almost at the end of the brook before it goes into the canal.
• Organised two further specialist seminars on the brook to learn from other projects.
• Engaged support from two MSc students who used the brook as a case study.
• Produced a leaflet with ST for all householders on what they can do including offering a free ’fat trap’ to reduce fats getting into the sewer.
• A new grill at Puckshole to reduce flooding there

In response to the floods of 2007 three further local groups were created modelled in part on RBAG’s constitution. This led to the Stroud Water Forum and the District Council employing a specialist in rural sustainable drainage. Stroud has since become a leader in the field.

There’s more but basically it took nearly seven years  of persistence and perseverance to eventually get roots cut in our sewers plus large sections relined and replaced. The brook has been in a much healthier state and thankfully there is growing awareness about the damage sewage and agricultural run-off can cause to waterways. There are also a host of organisations locally working to improve our waterways further, including Glos Wildlife Trust, Stroud Valleys Project and most recently ‘citizen scientists’ at Glos WaterWatch Collective.

Philip Booth, Ruscombe