Colleagues from our project partner the Environment Agency (EA) recently won the “TeamEA” category in the organisation’s national awards.
This award – the winners of which are voted for by staff – recognises a team that best embodies the spirit of the Environment Agency and inspires pride within the organisation.
The team working on Unlocking the Severn at the Environment Agency were nominated for pulling together colleagues from local and national teams to achieve great wins for fish passage, wildlife and river restoration.
Against stiff competition our team at the EA went on to win the award for excellent collaborative working between teams spanning Fisheries, External Funding, Engagement, Legal, Estates and Capital Project Management Services functions.
It was also a recognition this nationally important project has been driven forward through passion, commitment, diligence, leadership and sheer determination.
Alan Jones from the Environment Agency said “Ideas, laughter, tension, tears, arguments, joy, frustration and elation – it’s been a roller-coaster of emotions! Our work – with our superb partners – is an excellent example of daring to dream big: identifying an issue which needed improving, planning an ambitious project, bidding for highly competitive funding sources… and after 4 years of hard work, we are implementing a £20m partnership project improving fish passage on the rivers Severn and Teme and inspiring communities to reconnect with the rivers’ heritage, ecology and future.”
Project partners kindly supported the nomination with these lovely testimonials:
Mike Morris – Chief Executive Officer, Severn Rivers Trust:
From the very beginning our colleagues in the Environment Agency have been incredibly supportive, working diligently to bring the partnership together. Their enthusiasm for a very big and daunting idea has never waned and this once in a lifetime project would not have happened without the involvement of a number of highly professional and key local players.
Jason Leach, Canal & River Trust, Programme Director – Unlocking the River Severn:
Environment Agency staff pulled off a masterstroke in bringing together the right people at the right time for Unlocking the Severn and their tenacious approach to keeping the show on the road has been fundamental to the success of the project. They continue to be a fantastic team within this committed partnership. We are now poised to start work on the Diglis Weir and Bevere Weir fish passes which without the support of Environment Agency staff would have been impossible.
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