Jan, there is a policy of using local people in planning that has been put in place during the last 5 years, known as the Catchment Based Approach.
Locally the River Dour Partnership includes volunteer groups as well as DDC, DTC, WCCP, Affinity Water and DHB reps. The RDP and WCCP are members with the South East Rivers Trust (SERT) and Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership of the EA-supported East Kent Catchment Partnership, which includes representatives from similar groups and councils over all the area drained by the Dour and the Stour. Although not specifically involved with flood prevention there are opportunities to put in views on planning matters, which at the moment includes the South East River Basin Management Plan.
SERT are the experts on planning and implementing river improvements, and through them we are currently receiving £31,000 of DEFRA funding for environmental improvements on the Dour, all of which have to go through a flood risk assessment.
So there is a route for local people to get involved, but unfortunately it is very difficult to get committed people to put in the time and effort - every one of our current committee holds positions on other volunteer groups. We would love to find more volunteers, not just people wanting to get in the river to collect rubbish - anyone interested can get in touch via
WCCP