Introducing the River Deben Action Plan

Today, the East Suffolk Catchment Partnership has launched an action plan to recover the river Deben.

Recovering the Deben From Source to Sea is a collaborative effort bringing together local community groups and diverse organisations spanning conservation, agriculture, and industry. Together, we're committed to enhancing the health of the river Deben and estuary, ensuring a thriving ecosystem for both communities and wildlife alike.

Representatives of partnership organisations visiting the river Deben ahead of the Action Plan launch (Left to right: Colin Nicholson, Mariah Ballam and Dr Helen Dangerfield)

Dr. Helen Dangerfield Director at Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust, who is co-ordinating action on behalf of the East Suffolk Catchment Partnership, said: “I am delighted we have been able to establish this initiative. For a long time, so many passionate groups have been working on their own to assist the recovery of the Deben, but together we are so much stronger".

“At the moment, just 11 per cent of the river is meeting ecological standards – that isn’t good enough and is threatening the habitats of many animals who rely on the river. Doing nothing is not an option and we are all desperate to see the river and estuary in recovery.”

Mariah Ballam is facilitator of the Upper Deben Farm Cluster: “We are pleased to have the expertise offered from this partnership to help form a catchment wide plan that will enable farmers and landowners in our area to be part of a project that will deliver landscape scale benefits for all those who depend upon the river Deben whilst providing more habitat for nature.”

Colin Nicholson speaking as co-chair of the River Deben Association said: "The RDA is pleased to be involved in the ‘Recovering the Deben From Source to Sea' project as it is only through the activities and involvement of the catchment community that the plan can become reality.”

“Recovering the Deben for people to love and wildlife to thrive”

The action plan has five key steps to deliver the "Recovering the Deben From Source to Sea" project by 2030, and also focusses on five working objectives that are all are directly connected to key issues within the catchment that prevent the river from meeting good ecological status. Explore the full action plan here.

You can have your say and help us shape the future for our natural environment on the Deben by taking a few minutes to complete our short survey.

Visit the Recovering the Deben From Source to Sea project page for more information.