Prateek Tanmay
3 min readNew DelhiJun 21, 2026 10:14 PM IST
A British environmentalist who led a large volunteer effort to restore a polluted river in East London is under investigation and could face legal consequences for carrying out the work without official permits.
Paul Powlesland, a 40-year-old barrister specialising in environmental and planning law, organised a 10-day community cleanup project along the Aldersbrook, a tributary of the River Roding in Barking, East London.
Powlesland wrote that volunteers restored around 250 metres of the brook, roughly one-third of its total length, by removing years of accumulated waste and pollution.
“With 10 days of intense effort by dedicated volunteers, the River Roding Trust managed to clean up and restore 250 metres of the Aldersbrook,” Powlesland wrote in a post on X. He also shared before-and-after photos for the site.
The cleanup operation reportedly removed more than 200 bags of rubbish from the waterway. Volunteers also cleared thick silt deposits, invasive plant species, fallen branches, discarded household appliances and other waste that had built up over decades.
Powlesland claimed the restoration had already produced visible ecological improvements. “A hundred metres away, and it’s a different story,” he wrote. “The rubbish and the invasive species are gone. The silt that used to clog the river is now spread on the banks and rapidly providing fertile ground for native plants.”
Powlesland added that water levels had increased significantly after the cleanup, allowing wildlife to return. “Instead of sludge, there’s 2–3 feet of water, so fish have returned to the brook for the first time in decades, along with dragonflies, herons and a nesting moorhen,” he said.
However, the Environment Agency has opened an investigation into the project, alleging that volunteers may have conducted unpermitted dredging operations and improperly moved waste material from the floodplain.
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Powlesland criticised the investigation in another post on X, accusing regulators of targeting volunteers instead of larger polluters.
“After decades of ignoring rampant environmental crime on the Roding, the Environment Agency has finally decided to act. Bad news! It’s not against Thames Water for illegally dumping billions of litres of sewage in the Roding, or the waste criminals who have dumped thousands of tonnes of rubbish on its banks, but against myself and a small volunteer charity for restoring a river without a permit,” he wrote.
Before & After…
If anyone doubts the power of community action over the @EnvAgency’s spineless inertia, you can walk to the outskirts of Ilford & walk along an ancient lost river to see for yourself.
With 10 days of intense effort by dedicated volunteers, the river River… pic.twitter.com/jwSIvbFo68
— Paul Powlesland (@paulpowlesland) June 18, 2026
The Environment Agency has defended its position, saying environmental safeguards still need to be followed even during community-led restoration efforts, the Pop Rant website reported.
“We strongly support communities improving their local environment,” the agency said in a statement. “It’s our responsibility to work with landowners to make sure activity doesn’t cause unintended harm to the environment. We’re investigating some unpermitted work on the River Roding but no decision has been made.”
