About Us

Who we are

S.O.C.S. is a registered charity run entirely by volunteers and dedicated to the environmental protection and enhancement of the Sussex River Ouse, its tributaries and impoundments.

The Society was set up in 1995 by a small group of local people who were concerned about the perceived decline of the river as a natural habitat. It has since expanded to a membership of over 100. It is administered by a body of trustees and is fortunate in having skilled and highly qualified members in the fields of environmental science, finance, law, information technology and management who give freely of their time for the benefit of the Society.

How we achieve our aims:

S.O.C.S. runs an education programme for schools and youth groups to illustrate the wildlife in the river and stress the importance of caring for the environment.
We support projects at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels for students and research teams at local universities.
We give presentations at local events and to other groups, publicising our work.
We vigorously campaign for improvements in water quality, in particular we are constantly lobbying against the licensed discharge of untreated sewage into our river and its tributaries.
We encourage farmers and landowners to manage their land in ways sympathetic to the health of the river.
Teams from S.O.C.S. regularly monitor the chemical and biological status of the river and its tributaries. The results are published on this website.
Other teams are engaged in clearing rubbish and debris from the watercourses, managing bank side vegetation and providing habitat restoration.

If you would like to know more about us, and the work we do, please contact us

Helping to protect the River...

The natural river - photo by Lesley Williams (SOCS)

The members of the conservation group are as vital as the river they strive to protect. This river is at the heart of our local heritage. It is a vital river against which sea trout battle every year to breed in its feeder streams.

The team has members with a lifelong knowledge of the river. All the members have the range of skills and the tenacity to keep the protection of this river foremost.

The struggle is against the increasing demand to pour even more partially treated waste water from sewage works. There is not much danger from harmful bacteria or solid human waste but the dissolved nitrates, phosphates and other harmful chemicals will progressively destroy the the rich variety of life of the river.

There are thirty eight major sewage works pouring in treated waste. Their effect becomes worse in summer when there is less water in the river to dilute the waste. When there is heavy rain the sewage treatment works cannot cope. Raw sewage then flows into our river. The problem is compounded in dry weather by over abstraction from boreholes. This causes the natural springs to dry up, with the result that the flow of tributaries often consists of almost undiluted effluents.
Some of the land is ploughed right up to the banks and fertiliser draining into the water makes things worse.

We have all the facts and figures. We regularly take water samples for analysis.

This is a vital river in which the sea trout run. Please help us to keep it from getting sick.

Don't confuse us with the Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust!...

I would first like to make it clear that Sussex Ouse Conservation Society (S.O.C.S) is in no way connected with The Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust (S.O.R.T).

Lock gates - Photograph Copyright Natural England

Photo by Peter Wakely/Natural England

The main objective of the members of S.O.R.T is to turn the upper reaches of the Sussex Ouse into a navigation. Along with a number of other environmental/conservation groups we are totally opposed to this objective. We, (the S.O.C.S. trustees), have no objection to the restoration of some of the old locks to preserve architectural heritage, but we are adamantly opposed to S.O.R.T.s other “restoration” proposals, which in our opinion would lead to ruination not restoration.

It is important to distinguish between a navigation and a canal; a navigation is when a natural river like the Sussex Ouse is modified by introducing man made structures to enable boat traffic as opposed to a canal which is a wholly man made artificial structure.

We also consider other advantages stated by S.O.R.T. are very unlikely to materialise considering that if the navigation took place it would not be able to accommodate canal boats but only motor boats and paddle boats. This would mean that a high percentage of people who may visit the navigation would be day trippers, not people shopping locally for supplies or requiring accommodation etc, so the local economic advantages appear to be exaggerated.

For more information please see the report from Sam StPierre ‘Navigation on the Sussex Ouse' in our News Section - 27th March 2007.

SOCS response to SORTS “The Sussex Ouse, A Vision for the 21st Century”

In March 2007, members of the SOCS Committee attended, by invitation, a presentation entitled by the Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust (SORT). Bob Draper, the Chairman of SORT, gave a short talk with slides elaborating on their aims and ambitions. Brochures and leaflets were made available summarizing the vision.

The SORT proposals caused SOCS such concern that our Scientific Director, Dave Brown (who is also Hon. Secretary of the Ouse Angling Preservation Society (O.A.P.S.), compiled a rebuttal that we sent to SORT on behalf of O.A.P.S. and ourselves in May 2007. We received no response, and a year later, in May 2008, we sent it to Bob Draper again. To date (2.6.08) there has still been no reply forthcoming.

Given that many SORT supporters and volunteers seem unaware of them, we feel it important to draw attention to the issues associated with SORT’s vision – not least being the Environment Agency’s rejection of the concept. To read the Environment Agency’s click here...

In order to do this, we are publishing the full text of our rebuttal as a PDF document. To read this document click here.....

SOCS has no objection to the restoration of some of the old locks to preserve their architectural and industrial archaeological heritage interest (so long as they are not functional), but is adamantly opposed to SORT’s other “restoration” proposals, which in our opinion would lead to serious degradation not restoration, of the Ouse and its wildlife.