Southampton (UK) City Council Motion: Rights of Rivers

Summary

On July 16 2025, the city of Southampton, England passed a Motion on the Rights of Rivers. Southampton is now the third locality in England to recognize river rights, following the Lewes District Council in 2023 and Basingstoke & Dean Borough Council in early 2025.

The council motion recognizes the Universal Declaration of River Rights which establishes that all rivers shall possess the following fundamental rights: the right to flow; the right to perform essential functions within the river’s ecosystem; the right to be free from pollution; the right to feed and be fed by sustainable aquifers; the right to native biodiversity; the right to regeneration and restoration.

The Council requests the “Cabinet to work in close collaboration with local communities and relevant stakeholders to ensure genuine, ongoing community input in the implementation of a Rights of Rivers for our rivers and estuaries. This includes empowering the community to co-develop a ‘Declaration of the Rights of Rivers’ with stakeholders, to be brought to the Council for endorsement by Spring 2027.”

In accordance with the Adopted Local Development Plan and Southampton City Vision, the Council also request the Cabinet “Ensure that Strategic Planning will take account of the Rights of Rivers and chalk streams and that the Council will take all necessary measures to protect these ecosystems, including within the Local Plan review and its successors.”

Photo: viswaprem anbarasapandian on Unsplash

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