About Us

Having been established in 1920, Barnt Green Waters has now celebrated its centenary and although the formation of the initial Organisation goes back to the late 1800’s and before the freehold land was purchased from the Earl of Plymouth for the sum of £5,000.00, and the “Sporting Rights” given to the Company for in perpetuity. This established the Company in 1920 as a private limited Company, limited by guarantee to manage the estate including, the adjacent land and club properties surrounding the lakes. The current Clubhouse at Upper Bittell was the Earl’s boathouse and the boat launching rails are still evident.

The Company issues licenses to the Fishing and Sailing Clubs and manages the membership for the Friends of Bittell group which generates much of the income for the Company to operate and maintain the Estate. In addition, licenses are raised to the Birmingham Running and Triathlon Club, and the 1st Kings Norton Sea Scout Troop who too make full use of the facilities.

The waters of Upper Bittell, a canal feeder for the Birmingham and Worcester canal, Lower Bittell and Mill Shrub are leased from the Canal & River Trust (C&RT) (formerly British Waterways) with most of the surrounding land. However, the Upper and Lower Arrow pools are owned by the Company, as is a strip of land on the westside of the two pools, an area of land to the south-west of Lower Bittell and a meadow adjacent to the end of the driveway.The grounds upon which we operate are within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which makes it the highest possible site of special interest for wildlife and nature. It is managed with the partnership of Natural England (NE) and the Canal & River Trust’s (C&RT) egologist. This places some constraints on the location for activities on our waters, although it does create a wonderful setting for the range of sporting activities we do offer.

The water quality in each of the Estate’s waters is tested by Members, in conjunction with the C&RT and Environment Agency (EA) with the focus of maintaining and improving, where possible, the health of the fish, the River Arrow and the biodiversity in the area.

The Company has 112 shareholders being those persons who have been recommended for full membership by the Committees of Barnt Green Fishing and Sailing Clubs. Each Club has 56 shareholders and on being elected to full membership, a member is required to purchase 100 shares in the Company at £1.00 per share which are held in trust. The Company is administered by an Executive Committee consisting of; six Directors elected by the Fishing and Sailing Clubs in equal numbers; two members nominated by each Club, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Fishing Club and the Commodore and Vice Commodore of the Sailing Club; and an Honorary Treasurer and Honorary Secretary appointed by the Executive Committee. The Chair is elected by the Board and alternates between the two Clubs. The Vice-Chair is also elected by the Board and is selected from the alternative Club to that of the Chair.

The Company holds an Annual General Meeting each year and when necessary, an Extraordinary General Meeting. Each member of the Company becomes a member of both Clubs but may only be entitled to use the respective facilities on payment of the relative subscriptions and are bound by the respective Club rules. Each member is entitled to enter all parts of the property on foot.

The work of the Executive Committee is shared by the Directors with each taking defined responsibilities. The total amount of work carried out by the six Directors, the Treasurer and the Secretary is considerable, and all is done at no cost to the Company.

The whole estate totals approximately 170 acres (69 hectares) with 107 acres, when the reservoirs are full, is covered with water. Upper Bittell Reservoir covers 80 acres, Lower Bittell 23 acres, Mill Shrub 4 acres. In 1956 by an Act of Parliament, to reduce the flood risk in extreme conditions, the top levels of Upper and Lower Bittell reservoirs were arbitrarily lowered – Upper Bittell by 4’ 6”, which exposed the lawn area and to what is now a larger boat park, and Lower Bittell by 6’ 10”. Since then, Upper Bittell has been raised 4”. The original area of Upper Bittell was 91 acres and Lower Bittell 31 acres. When full, Upper Bittell contains 1200 megalitres of water. It is a feeder reservoir for the Birmingham – Worcester canal and is fed largely from catchment off the Lickey Hills and via Cofton reservoir. Lower Bittell also receives water from the Lickey Hills and provides flow to the River Arrow. It was originally built to ensure the riparian rights of the Mill Owners along the river. The total catchment area feeding our pools is 2338 acres. The canal took 24 years to build and was completed in 1815 together with Lower Bittell. Upper Bittell was completed in 1833 and Jacobs Cut and the Engine House in 1836.

The Company owns a 999-year lease over the “Sporting Rights” which provides us with the authority to manage this aspect of the reservoirs, the Keeper’s Cottage, the Clubhouse properties, the driveway leading to the lower and upper car parks, the adjacent meadow and the stocked Arrow Pools at Upper Bittell. In addition, it owns a parcel of land off Bittell Road by the approach to the Lock Keeper’s cottage on Lower Bittell known as the “Alvechurch Embankment”. The remainder of the estate is held on a 99-year lease with the Canal & River Trust, re-negotiated in 2012. The Company employs a full-time on-site Keeper and his wife to help run the Estate and support the two Clubs, and it appears to be a family business as they are the 5th generation to do so. The duties of these employees cover a wide range of activities and are essential to the successful running of our Organisation. To illustrate, they include security, landscape maintenance, use of machinery, liaison with statutory bodies, monitoring of water, supervising fishery activities, servicing club premises, catering and many more far too numerous to mention.

Much of the estate (165.3 acres) is a Natural England SSSI. The land surrounding the Barnt Green Waters buildings, the sailing club foreshore, the Arrow Pools and their surrounding land, are excluded. Together the complex of pools managed by Barnt Green Waters represents one of the most important sites in the West Midlands for over wintering waterfowl and migrating waders. Upper Bittell reservoir is the largest area of open water in Worcestershire and is especially enhanced by the seasonal draw-down exposing wide silty margins on which the birds feed; some 30 species of waders having been observed. Altogether over 200 bird species have been recorded at our estate, thus making them an important ornithological site. Floristically, Upper Bittell reservoir is by far the richest open water body in Worcestershire with recent records showing about 100 wetland plant species and this places it in the top 5% on over 500 English nature lakes in Britain. Lower Bittell is not quite so rich but in botanical terms is still the second richest lake in the county. The site is important for rare plants, several are extremely important both regionally and internationally. The invertebrate fauna of the site is also rich and includes at least seven species of dragonfly. More recently, some small ponds have been created by the C&RT on the perimeter of Upper and Lower Bittell to increase and improve the biodiversity.

Parts of the site were designated under the 1949 National Parks and Countryside Act in 1956 and the remainder notified under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act in 1983. Natural England impose certain mild constraints on our activities to preserve our precious environment, but in return provide valuable financial support through the “Countryside Higher Tier Stewardship” scheme to assist in improving the environment to the overall benefit of both Clubs. In recognition of our management of the estate, in 2018 the Company received an award from Natural England. In addition, the Canal & River Trust also provides considerable investment into keeping the reservoirs safe. A good working relationship has been established and maintained with the C&RT, Natural England, Environment Agency and the North Worcestershire Water Management team, and together with the formation of the Bittell Reservoir Diffuse Catchment Management Committee (BRDCMC) who hold an annual meeting involving the local Parish Councils and local authorities to facilitate wider communication of current issues and possible threats.

OUR PARTNERS

THE CANAL & RIVER TRUST

Much of the estate is on a 99-year lease from the Canal & River Trust with the current lease entered into in March 2012 and we work in partnership with the Trust to maintain the estate and carry out improvements to the land and waters, to increase the biodiversity.

NATURAL ENGLAND

As of 2023, the Company entered a new 5 year “Countryside Stewardship” agreement with Natural England to assist with the maintenance of the SSSI. They provide a nominal annual payment for carrying out work on the estate together with additional funding for specific projects within their remit, to protect and enhance the flora and fauna, and biodiversity. They also issue assent authorisation to carry out variations to the estate again, to protect the overall area.

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

We have a good working relationship with the Environment Agency and through regular water testing of the reservoirs and pools, work in partnership to discover, locate and prevent contamination of the waters and the associated watercourses.

NORTH WORCESTERSHIRE WATER MANAGEMENT

Like that of the EA, we work with the North Worcestershire Water Management team to detect and report contamination issues or such like with the water quality both on the estate and to protect the water of the River Arrow that travels beyond the estate.

We hope we have provided an insight into the Company and its role, with some interesting information and would ask that if you require further details on the various activities we promote, please click on the relevant “Tab” at the top of the page.