Wealden (UK) District Council Motion: rights of rivers

Summary

On July 16 2025, a member’s motion to support river rights was passed by the Wealden District Council in Sussex, England. The Wealden District Council acknowledges that rivers in England are not thriving and Wealden’s are no exception. The State of Our Rivers’ (2024) report by the River Trust found that not a single river stretch in England is in high or good overall condition, and that 23% are in poor or bad overall condition.

The rights of rivers motion states the Council “supports the growing global movement for rights for nature in general and for rivers in particular as a framework for rethinking the relationship between human beings and the rest of the world.” The motion supports the introduction into law of the following rights for rivers:
– Right to flow
– Right to perform essential functions within their ecosystem
– Right to be free from pollution
– Right to feed, and to be fed, by sustainable aquifers
– Right to native biodiversity
– Right to regeneration and restoration
– Right to legal personality, to be exercised through legal guardianship

The motion also states that the Council will join Friends of the River Medway and the Maidstone Borough Council to discuss a declaration of rights of the River Medway, and that the Council will respond positively to proposals from community groups and organizations for similar declarations in respect of Wealden’s other rivers.