We want Rights for the Tamar

River Rights for the Tamar - A Manifesto

The River Tamar is not just a backdrop to our lives.

It is a living presence that shapes this landscape, sustains wildlife, carries history, and connects communities.

For centuries, people have travelled its waters — from early traders and merchants to the Romans who established a presence here. The Tamar became a boundary, a route, and a lifeline. Its banks supported thriving market gardens, its waters carried industry and story, and it forms part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, now recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Figures such as Francis Drake are woven into its wider history, while older traditions speak of journeys like that of Saint Indract, who landed at Halton Quay.

This is a river that has always mattered.

But today, it faces growing pressure.

Pollution, degraded habitats, and decisions made without the river’s needs at the centre are placing its future at risk.

We believe this must change.

Following the People’s Assembly in Calstock, our community committed to working towards a River Rights Charter for the Tamar within the Parish. Calstock Parish Council has now passed a motion to explore this within one year.

Our starting point is simple:

The Tamar matters not only for what it gives us, but for what it is.

We are creating a new way of thinking and acting locally — one in which the health of the river becomes a shared public responsibility.

This means:

giving the river a voice through River Guardians

identifying and monitoring the pressures affecting it

developing clear indicators of river health

combining science, local knowledge, and lived experience

grounding our work in the cultural history and stories of the Tamar

building a Charter that expresses the rights the river needs in order to thrive

We believe the River Tamar has the right:

to flow

to be free from pollution

to support life and biodiversity

to recover where it has been harmed

to be protected from exploitation

to be represented in decisions that affect its future

This is not about symbolism alone.

It is about changing the terms of the conversation.

Too often we ask what can be taken from a river, what can be built beside it, or what can be discharged into it.

We want to ask a different question:

What does the river need to thrive?

Because when the river thrives, wildlife thrives. Communities thrive. Future generations inherit something living, not broken.

This manifesto is an invitation — to residents, councillors, local organisations, landowners, river users, and all who care about this place.

Help us shape a Charter that reflects both ecological reality and shared values.

Help us create a future in which the Tamar is not only defended when damaged, but recognised as worthy of care in its own right.

The story of the Tamar is still being written.

Let this be the moment when we begin to listen — and act.