The Dove management catchment stretches east of Stoke‑on‑Trent from the uplands near Buxton down to just north of Burton upon Trent. It includes a mix of small towns and rural communities such as Leek, Cheadle, Ashbourne, Uttoxeter, Hilton and Tutbury. The River Dove rises on Axe Edge and flows south‑east through changing landscapes before joining the River Trent, moving from fast‑flowing headwaters into wider lowland floodplains.

This area contains numerous surface waterbodies and a high concentration of protected habitats, including SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest), SACs (Special Areas of Conservation) and SPAs (Special Protected Areas). These support species‑rich grasslands, wetlands, woodlands and high‑quality river corridors, making the Dove an important landscape for wildlife and nature recovery.

Like many catchments, the Dove faces environmental pressures. Current issues include pollutions, invasive non‑native species such as Signal Crayfish and Himalayan Balsam, and past physical modifications that disrupt natural river processes.

The Environment Agency also highlights emerging challenges linked to climate change, including more variable river flows, increased agricultural and wastewater pressures, and the spread of invasive species.

For our Environmental Destination (ED) programme, we are focusing on a specific “area of interest” within the catchment, relevant to water company abstractions. Our focus is those surface water bodies where the public water supply companies actively abstract water or where their groundwater abstraction impacts on flow to surface waterbodies.