Water Resource Management Skills Gap Report: An Exploration of the Water Resource Management Skills Gap through the Centre for Living with Climate Change (CLiCC) Demonstrator Project

The River Severn catchment is experiencing increasing pressure from climate change, population growth, and declining capital investment, heightening risks to communities, infrastructure, and water security. The Centre for Living with Climate Change (CLiCC) Demonstrator Project, part of the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme, examines how workforce availability and capability affect long-term resilience in Shropshire and Powys. Using Participatory Action Research, the study identifies gaps across Water Resource Management (WRM), including education and training misalignment, unclear career pathways, low public awareness, and shortages in cross-disciplinary capabilities. It investigates the landscape as perceived by those working in WRM within the local areas of Powys and Shropshire in the WRM sector. Evidence reveals: The requirement for specialist knowledge and technical skills; The requirement for Project, People and Stakeholder Management Skills; Misalignment between WRM skills required and their development; Structural constraints to career pathways and succession; The Need for Community empowerment and Collaboration Systems. The findings highlight the need for coordinated action to develop an accessible competency framework, clear local career pathways, strengthen local training and collaboration opportunities, and increase public awareness and support for the sector. Addressing these gaps presents an opportunity to improve regional climate resilience while supporting economic development in the Upper River Severn Catchment. This creates a vision of a coordinated, place-based investment in people that alleviates pressures on employers and career-seekers, while building a sustainable local pipeline of WRM skills to strengthen long-term environmental and economic resilience.

Citation

Spiers, M., Carbon, B., Callaghan, J., & Powell-Turner, J. (2026 - forthcoming). Water Resource Management Skills Gap Report: An Exploration of the Water Resource Management Skills Gap through the Centre for Living with Climate Change (CLiCC) Demonstrator Project.

URI

https://chesterrep.openrepository.com/handle/10034/629927

Type

Report

Description

This Research was conducted by the University of Chester’s Centre for Research into Environmental and Sustainable Transitions (CREST), on behalf of Shropshire Council, Powys Council, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales.