Conservation group stops taking funding from Yorkshire Water 'to protect integrity'
A conservation group says "to protect its integrity" it's not taking further funding from Yorkshire Water.
Calder Conservation Group was set up by angler Lee Murrell, 41, in 2024 to try and improve the River Calder, which flows from Todmorden to Castleford.
The Calder Middle catchment was reportedly one of the worst for sewage spills in England in 2023.
The firm has given CCG water testing kits, litter pickers and funding for work on invasive species, a total of £6,300.
CCG said their supporters “need to know that our opinions cannot be influenced by who funds our work.
"If we’re going to praise organisations when they get things right, we also have to be free to challenge them when we believe they’re getting things wrong.” Mr Murrell has documented debris and plastic entering the river from “largely unscreened” combined sewage overflows. He said: “It doesn’t sit right to challenge pollution daily and take any amount of money from the body that is putting pollution into the watercourse.”
Recently he had pointed out to the River Health Team five condoms among debris on a set of bars across an outfall at Cooper Bridge in Huddersfield, which takes the overflow from Upper Brighouse sewage treatment works. He said the Environment Agency doesn’t specify a minimum size and YW doesn’t have to disclose the size it is using on an outlet.
He said: “I don't want to feel I’m tied into an organisation and can’t go on Facebook and say I’ve noticed this and it shouldn’t be happening.”
Yorkshire Water said they were disappointed by the decision, but understood CCG’s reasons. They said bars acts as safety features and are not the only screens in operation, with finer screens at the works or within the overflow structure. They are investing £1.5bn across Yorkshire to reduce permitted discharges from storm overflows.
By 2030 they will have upgraded 19 storm overflows within Calderdale, with work already beginning on the Syke Lane overflow.