Participatory environmental governance is increasing worldwide. One area where such governance forms
are apparent is in the management of water resources. For example, in the European Union the Water
Framework Directive mandates several forms of involvement via its legal obligations. Under the Directive,
implementing agencies should provide information on river basin management planning to the public,
consult citizens and stakeholders during planning and actively involve interested parties in the plan
process.YetquestionsariseoverthesuccessofparticipatoryprocessesonthegroundinEUmemberstates.
In this study, participation was therefore evaluated in WFD river basin planning in England and Wales
using process, community, output and outcome-related indicators. Research was conducted through
extensive quantitative and qualitative data collection over a long temporal scale within case analyses of
the Anglian, Humber and South West river basin districts. Results suggest that while the first phase of river
basin management largely met legal requirements, the actual success of participatory water governance
was mixed. On this basis, recommendations are made for enhancing participation in future river basin
planning through national and EU policy.