Over the years the Beane has been modified for flood defences and historic industries. The modifications include the addition of weirs for flood defence. Despite potential benefits weirs cause major problems for fish and eel passage, preventing them from easily moving upstream and downstream.
They also cause sluggish flow in the river directly upstream as well as the build up of silt and habitat damage, which in turn impact biodiversity.
Cedar Close weir bypass channel project is intended to contribute to the restoration of the River Beane. The project is a partnership between East Herts Council, the Countryside Management Service and the Environment Agency. It is part of ongoing efforts to improve the Beane – a globally rare chalkstream.
Save Beane Marshes group has seen a huge amount of progress in 2022. The first and perhaps most importantly a fence was erected around the field and cattle brought onto the field to graze.
John Howson of Save Beane Marshes explained: “Many unwanted weeds such as nettles were growing on the marshes. Grazing cattle helps reduce this type of growth and allow species useful to wildlife to get a foothold. We are therefore very pleased that the Wildlife Trust managed to erect fences and put cattle on the land.”
Save Beane Marshes were delighted to receive two prestigious awards from CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England) Hertfordshire in October.
The CPRE Hertfordshire Award for “Improving and protecting the environment” celebrates the achievements of individuals and groups who have worked to protect, promote and enhance the countryside for the benefit of their local population. Eleven different initiatives had been nominated for this award..
The award was for raising over £120,000 for the purchase of the Marshes plus an
additional £30,000 from Hertford Town Council.
This allowed the marshes to be purchased by Hertford and Middlesex Wildlife Trust for the
preservation of wildlife and for the local community.
Hannah Lilley of Save Beane Marshes said:
“It was a fantastic privilege to receive this award and it is testimony to the amazing
generosity and hard work of the local community.
We’d like to thank everyone involved for all their hard work.”
Save Beane Marshes also received a CPRE gold standard award.
On Sunday 27th of November Hertford and Middlesex Wildlife Trust had a community engagement event that allowed local people to follow the progress of the marsh. Information about the site and it’s wildlife, and plans for the future were shared together with information on volunteering.
We are delighted to announce that the sale of Beane Marshes is
finally complete. The land is now owned by Herts and Middlesex
Wildlife Trust.
For us it has been a
great honour for us to be involved in a wonderful community
initiative that has given Hertford a piece of land that will be a
haven for wildlife for future generations.
A massive thank you
to all our supporters and contributors for your help in making this
possible your generosity has been unprecedented. It was a really
amazing community effort and something to celebrate. This is a
special gift to Hertford.
A special thanks is also due to the previous owner of the land who has been patient while the legal process took place. Thank you too to Hertford Town Council who gave a very generous contribution.
Save Beane Marshes
will now focus on the education aspect of the project, and supporting
HMWT in maintaining and enhancing the land.
There are many things still to do so continue to watch our website.
Thank you Charity Commission for a great New Year’s gift! We are now a registered charity!
This is an extract of the email we received:
“We are satisfied that SAVE BEANE MARSHES LIMITED is a charity and it
has been entered onto the Register of Charities with the Registered
Charity Number 1187171
The
decision to register was based on our assessment of the information
supplied during the application process and the declarations given in
the trustee declaration form and we are satisfied that SAVE BEANE
MARSHES LIMITED is established for charitable purposes only for the
public benefit.”
A very happy, peaceful and healthy 2020 to all of our supporters. Thank you for helping to make all of this happen!
We have been meeting with the Herfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust to discuss the purchase of the land. We have agreed a way forward. The Wildlife Trust have agreed subject to satisfactory conveyancing etc to contribute sufficient funds to proceed with the purchase of the land. We will update you as soon as we have further details.
Hertford Town Council have shown amazing support for Save
Beane Marshes by giving a £30,000 grant which will be provided once the rest of
the funds are raised. This money has been granted from the New Homes Bonus
Grant Fund see https://www.hertford.gov.uk/page-new-homes-bonus-grant-funding-90/
This gives our campaign a massive boost and brings us significantly closer to reaching our overall target of £165,000
It means that we have raised around £128,000 to date
Hannah Lilley for Save Beane Marshes said:
“Thanks to the generous donations of the community, and the support of the Town Council we are getting far closer to achieving our goal of raising £165,000. We are now only around £37,000 away from reaching this target. We never imagined when we started our campaign to achieve this level of support. We hope that this will encourage other donations.”
John Howson for Save Beane Marshes said:
“Support of the Town Council underlines the importance of
this wonderful natural resource in the heritage of Hertford. What better way of
investing the town’s money than in the future of our natural environment. Thank
you Hertford Town Council”
You may have noticed that our name has changed. We are now “Save Beane Marshes” rather than “Beane Marshes Conservation Group”. This is because “Save Beane Marshes” is a charity – currently in the form of a company limited by guarantee. This will allow us to apply for grants that were otherwise inaccessible. Consequently, you may also have noticed the change to our website address (we are now savebeanemarshes.org.uk rather than beanemarshes.org.uk). You may ask what is in a name, but by introducing the word “save” we are promoting the idea of not only preventing possible purchase by speculators, but also preserving the land for future generations and what could be more important than investing in the future of our planet?
Thank you to everyone who has helped to deliver leaflets and donated as a part of our latest drive. We have raised around a £1000 so far, any additional contributions will be really appreciated. You can contribute on our donation tab above.
As a part of developing our community focus we are looking at promoting the educational use and study of the marshes. An education sub group has been enthusiastically endorsed by many of our core supporters. If you would like to be a part of this please let us know. We are hoping among other things to write an education leaflet about the marshes suitable for the public and schools.
We have also just launched a new survey to start to document wildlife on the marshes and collect people’s stories for use in our publicity and grant applications. You can complete this online – take our survey
Thank you to everybody who came to the community meeting last Sunday. It was great to meet some of you, share with you our progress and hear some fantastic ideas about fundraising! For those unable to come along, a summary is below:
1) How much have you raised and how much is left? We’re tantalisingly close to raising £100,000, which will be £65,000 off our target of £165,000 (comprising £135,000 for the land itself, £10,000 in VAT for one of the lots, and an estimated £20,000 in auctioneer and legal fees). Thank you!
2) What’s next? Thank you to all our donors for their amazing generosity (donations from local residents comprises the vast majority of our fundraising so far). We hope that many more people will feel inspired to contribute either by giving or joining in our activities.During this next stage we will also be applying for grants, and have a bit of a push with local business who we hope we can convince to support a cause close to many local hearts! We’re also in the process of forming a charity (called Save Beane Marshes) to run alongside our company (Beane Marshes Conservation Group). The charity allows us to Gift Aid donations, and also apply for grants that are not accessible to a private company.
3) Can I get involved? Yes, absolutely. In fact we’d really love your help! The core group comprises four local residents. We’ve had some fantastic assistance in a variety of different ways from a lot of people, and want to formalise the offers of help into four sub-committees to focus on four corresponding areas: a) fundraising and events b) environment c) grants and d) education. If you think you can help please let us know by emailing beanemarshes@gmail.com, and we’ll be in touch. There are also still plenty of leaflets to deliver to local homes or put posters up around town if you fancy pounding the streets.
4) Are the Wildlife Trust involved? Yes, the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust remains interested in the site and have agreed in principle to take it on to manage once we complete our fundraising. We’ll be posting a video with them soon where you will be able to find out why the site is so special.5) Any events coming up? Keep your eyes peeled! We have a few things planned for coming months and always welcome ideas.
Thank you to everyone who helped us raise an amazing £680 from the coffee morning at St. Andrew’s Church. It was wonderful to meet you all. Thanks too to everyone involved at St Andrews for organising such a successful and enjoyable morning.
The Hertford Civic Society have contacted all their members informing them of our efforts to purchase Beane Marshes and giving details of how donations can be made. This support is very appreciated. Thank you
