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Bristol Avon Rivers Trust Impact Report 2025/26

Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART) restores and protects the rivers of the Bristol Avon catchment. Its Impact Report 2025/26 records over 13 km of river and 22 hectares of habitat enhanced, four barriers improved for fish passage, over 7,800 volunteer hours mobilised and 2,820 monitoring visits delivered.

Report snapshot
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About

Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART) is a charity working to protect, restore and celebrate the rivers of the Bristol Avon catchment. It delivers practical habitat restoration, natural flood management, tree planting, education and citizen science monitoring, working with landowners, communities, schools and partners.

Key Metrics

River and habitat enhanced Over 13 km of river and 22 hectares of habitat enhanced, alongside improving four barriers to support fish passage and species recovery.
Volunteer hours mobilised Over 7,800 volunteer hours mobilised across restoration and monitoring programmes.
Monitoring visits 2,820 monitoring visits delivered, significantly expanding the catchment's evidence base.

Key Outcomes

  • Ecological condition improved and fragmented habitats reconnected across the Bristol Avon catchment.
  • Citizen science and catchment monitoring scaled up through RiverHub and volunteer programmes.

Geography

South West

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
5,999 active volunteers contributed 776,242 hours in 2025/26
Key Metric 2
137 winter maintenance projects across 45 canals; 109 lock gates replaced
Key Metric 3
101,640 children participated in Explorers/STEM outdoor learning, including 67,896 water-safety participants
Over 80% of the network kept fully open despite drought.
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
The Eco-Schools programme reached over 1.4 million pupils, with 2,162 schools awarded the Eco-Schools Green Flag in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
326,000 volunteers pledged to the Great British Spring Clean, picking up 425,626 bags of rubbish, supported by 288 local authorities and parish councils
Key Metric 3
2,227 Green Flag Awards given to parks and green spaces in the UK; 151 beaches given a Blue Flag and/or Seaside Award
98.3% of educators felt the Eco-Schools programme significantly supports young people's development of 'green skills'
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
First known breeding success of spoonbills in the Norfolk Broads in around 400 years, recorded at Hickling Broads and Marshes
Key Metric 2
Over 60 nature reserves managed across Norfolk, with land owned or managed for wildlife exceeding 5,000 hectares
Key Metric 3
1,500 volunteers helped protect wildlife across the county during the year
New urban nature reserve co-designed with the local community, expanding accessible green space in Norfolk
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
61,819 native oysters deployed across UK restoration projects in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
15,064 people participated in the Beachwatch beach clean programme, submitting 1,256 litter surveys — the highest in the programme's 31-year history
Key Metric 3
17,613 young people engaged through in-person or online youth programme sessions
£11.5 billion Ofwat investment package secured for storm overflow cuts in England and Wales following sustained MCS advocacy