Rights of River attracting national interest

Love Our Ouse has been inundated with national enquiries since Lewes District Council passed a motion in February to explore with local communities and relevant stakeholders the implementation of Rights of Rivers for the Ouse for possible endorsement in 2025, says founding director Natasha Padbury.

As a result of the national press the motion received, Love Our Ouse has received hundreds of enquiries, interest and offers of support from across the UK.

We’ve been developing links with Roehampton University, Wildlife Trusts, local authorities interested in pursuing motions for their rivers, leading lawyers instrumental in international rights of nature cases and more!

This important networking will help us learn about how initiatives are progressing globally and inform how best to shape a meaningful charter for our River Ouse. 

As part of its growing programme of community engagement sessions to gather local people’s ideas, Love Our Ouse delivered a really vibrant session in July at the Naturelinks summit run by the Railway Land Wildlife Trust where 16 young people declared the rights they’d like to see for the river (pictured).

A few of the rights proposed were: the right to have its future considered, to have friends, a fair trial, to vote, to meander freely, to bear wildlife and to be respected. 

Learn more about ‘Rights of River’ at: https://loveourouse.org/