Category: Speakers
Charlotte Hitchmough from Action for the River Kennet, or ARK, gave an inspiring talk entitled "What Makes a Pressure Group Successful" to the Politics Society. She covered the many different aspects of ARK's work; a small, outsider, local pressure group working valiantly to protect the beautiful chalk stream that so many of us walk past every day. The content of the talk spanned across many subjects, from the political battles of a small pressure group across to the environmental and conservational work done by ARK to protect the river's diverse eco-system.
ARK was founded twenty years ago and now has more than 500 members, all of whom pay a small membership fee to the group. The issues ARK encounters are many and varied, the most significant of which being the dryness of the river caused by both natural and man-made influences. The recent dry winters we have experienced have played a major part in this but the most dangerous of threats to the small river has come from the large water company Thames Water, who have been abstracting water from the aquifers supplying the river and putting it into the public water supply that feeds south Swindon. ARK has tackled this problem by facing the goliath like water company head on and demanding a compromise is to be found, as well as teaming up with the global, insider pressure group World Wildlife Fund, working closely with their UK based project WWF UK.
ARK has also, through the work of Mrs Hitchmough, kept a strong and healthy relationship with the local and national media, keeping them up to date on recent matters and stories as well as using them to provide pressure on the ministers in Parliament responsible for the UK's rivers. Mrs Hitchmough talked at great length on the power of "spin" and how to create a positive outcome with the help of the media from a seemingly negative situation. Most recently ARK and the river Kennet have featured on the BBC's local news show "Points West" and on the popular, nationwide show "Panorama" aired in 2011. The talk provided politics students with an invaluable insight into the inner workings of a pressure group and the actions they must take to get the job done, as well as providing a harrowing wakeup call into our river's desperate situation.
Sebastian Chater Davies (C3 L6)