The Riverside Code ∞
I’ve spent untold voluntary hours working with Friends of the River Wye to create The Riverside Code – a small booklet, designed to be beautiful and useful, that’s full of ideas to help us become better river guardians.
Inspired by the Countryside Code, we’ve invented The Riverside Code to protect our rivers and streams.
Whilst we’ve made this guide for the River Wye, much of it applies to other rivers, and we’d love to see it adopted and adapted by groups across the country. I hope it’s the seed of an idea that will take root and grow.
My main learning from all my river activism over the last few years is that nobody is coming to rescue our rivers. The government and regulators are failing. But I’ve drawn tremendous inspiration from the ideas within the book Wild Service, and from the river guardian Paul Powlesland on the River Roding, and from Ashley Smith and Peter Hammond on the River Windrush (the real-life stars of Dirty Business on C4). There is really no limit to what ordinary people can do. I'd love to see The Riverside Code empower more people to channel their love for their river, and their outrage about pollution, into action to bring about transformational change.