Environment Agency
This guidance provides links to the documents and data explorers that make up the river basin management plans (RBMPs). These are referred to as the plans in this guide.
This guide describes the structure of the plans and how they are presented. It also provides signposts for general users and for some specific groups or activities. This will enable you to jump directly to the content in the plans of interest.
The plans structure and systems
Structure of the plans
There is a RBMP for each river basin district. The plans consist of a set of documents and online systems presenting the data and maps. You can view, print or download plan data using these online systems. There are also links to downloadable data in the documents.
The online systems allow you to access the data and maps for your river basin district. You can also view this data at a more detailed level, zooming in to the scale that is most meaningful for you. In addition, you can view all data for England.
The documents and links to data are accessed from the river basin district plan pages. Selecting the appropriate river basin district from river basin management plans, updated 2022 takes you to a list of documents and links to the online system for that district.
The documents and online systems that form the plans are described in the following sections.
You can find an online glossary to help you with any terms you may not be familiar with.
Viewing data using the catchment data explorer
The catchment data explorer presents the data for the plans. This provides easy access to summary data tables at river basin district level, with the option to download the source data. You can also select smaller catchments to view or download this data, as well as viewing the data for specific water bodies.
Catchment partnership pages are accessible on?the catchment data explorer. These can be found at the management catchment scale view, or accessed from the catchment partnerships list page.
As well as displaying data for the RBMPs published in December 2022, the catchment data explorer also shows the latest available data. You can choose to switch between the data for the plans or the latest data by clicking on the blue, or green, bar at the bottom of the screen.
The plan view of the catchment data explorer presents the data that forms part of the plans. This data will remain unchanged until the plans are updated again in 2027.
The latest data view allows you to view the latest river basin planning data. It is updated quarterly and will reflect any changes in river basin planning data on the Environment Agencys internal data systems. The latest data view is not a formal part of the plans, but it is useful for organisations and the public who need access to the latest available information.
The catchment data explorer displays the geographical extent of the river basin district, catchment or water body youre viewing. You can then navigate to sub-catchments or water bodies by clicking on the map or selecting the name to the right of the map. When viewing the river basin district or catchment, you can select the data you want to view by clicking on the boxes in the data section (for example classification or objectives). This will bring up summary tables of that data and links to data downloads at the bottom of the page.
The search function on the catchment data explorer is a useful way of locating content on the area of your interest. The search will only return results for the latest data on?the explorer. You can still use this search to view plan data, but you will need to click on the link at the bottom of the screen to switch to plan data once you have arrived at the target of your search.
There is a guide on how to use the system available on the help page. This guide will be updated as improvements to the catchment data explorer are made and based on your feedback.
Viewing maps using river basin planning maps viewer
You can find all the maps for the plans on the river basin management plans maps viewer. This provides users with an interactive mapping system to view the plan data.
Instructions for navigating and viewing the maps are on the screen when you visit the viewer. You can display the legend, which explains what is displayed on the map. You can also turn different map layers on and off for comparison purposes. As with the catchment data explorer, it allows you to view the maps at the geographic scale of interest to you and print out the map youre viewing.
As with the catchment data explorer, maps are grouped under headings relating to classification, objectives, protected areas, location, and progress since 2015. Under each heading you can select to view specific maps relating to water body types, protected area types and classification types. These maps are divided into subcategories, so they are easier to view and quicker to load. If required, you can select to view other layers on top of these maps.
There are several ways you can find the area you are interested in. You can select the river basin district using the filter button or use the map to move and zoom to the area. There is also the main search function where you can look up places, postcodes, or grid references. The secondary search function allows you to look up management catchments or local authorities. If your browser allows, you can also click on the target button on the left to zoom to your location.
Once you have identified the map you wish to view and located the area of interest, you can print out your map. Depending on your system, you will be able to print hard copies of the maps or PDF versions of the view.
You can click on water bodies and protected areas on the maps to find out more information. In some cases, this will allow you to follow a link to take you to the data about your selection on the catchment data explorer.
Links to specific information
The following links can be used to access documents, sections of documents or specific locations on catchment data explorer.
Principles for implementation of the river basin management plans
All partners will need to work together to embed these principles across all water management initiatives as the river basin management plans are implemented. These principles are laid out in the implementing the plans document.
Classification data for any element or water body
The current condition and environmental objectives document describes the process of classification and links to more background information (including detailed method statements).
You can use the catchment data explorer to find out how any water body, or element of the water body, has been classified on the water body pages. You can also find summary data at different geographical scales and for all of England.
You can use these links to find summary classification tables and links to the data for your river basin district: