Scheme to improve health of protected river underway
Work to boost the health of the protected river Mease and provide additional flood storage for the downstream village of Edingale is now underway on the Pessall Brook. Local rivers charity, Trent Rivers Trust, is delivering a new wetland area and restore sections of the Trent tributary’s headwaters, with funding provided by the Environment Agency.
Works on a Staffordshire County Council Farm commenced this week and are expected to be completed by late October.
Improvements on council land aim to bring a greater variety of wildlife to the watercourse, boost water quality and allow it to function more naturally. The charity will reprofile riverbanks for improved floodplain connection, including a new wetland area on the floodplain, introduce woody material in the channel and a flood storage bund to encourage flood waters onto the wetland areas. This will also slow down flood waters to the downstream village of Edingale.
Plant species that will host an array of insects, amphibians, birds and small mammals on the farm will also be seeded onto the new habitat. As flood waters often contain high levels of sediments and silts, these can now settle out on the floodplain and improve the water quality before the tributary reaches the main river.
Measures will also benefit the spined loach, a rare fish that supports the Mease’s status as a Special Area of Conservation. The Mease is one of only five rivers in the UK where the ground-dwelling fish can be found.
Emma Smail, Landscape Recovery Manager at Trent Rivers Trust says:
Whilst much of the focus of this wider restoration project has been the main River Mease itself, it’s important to get things right from the start. The headwaters and tributaries are hugely important for making improvements to the condition of the River Mease. They are a corridor for wildlife and water. If the quality is not good in the tributaries, it will not be good in the Mease either.
The rivers are linked to the landscape and it’s important to enable those looking after that land to implement the opportunities available. Working with Staffordshire County Council on a scheme that works for them, for their tenant, and the river is a fantastic example of what can be achieved through collaboration. This is part of Trent Rivers Trust’s commitment to bringing the Mease back to a more favourable condition.
Adam Noon, Tame Anker Mease Catchment Coordinator at the Environment Agency says:
The project to restore the River Mease has been a long-term collaboration between Trent Rivers Trust and the Environment Agency. For almost a decade the partnership has delivered a wide range of interventions and improvements to the catchment. We are therefore excited to see work commence on this phase of the programme which will deliver multiple benefits to this important tributary of the Lower Mease.
Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for the environment, infrastructure and climate change Simon Tagg said:
We’re pleased to be able to work with the Trent Rivers Trust on this important scheme to protect the river, local communities and our wildlife.
It is a priority to us as a county council to protect and enhance our environment and promote biodiversity in Staffordshire which this scheme will help to achieve. Furthermore, we recognise that flood risk blights communities and any measure to reduce this is welcomed.
Our tenant farmer will continue the important day-to-day business operations in producing food and supporting the rural economy and job creation.
For more information please get in touch with
vanessa@trentriverstrust.org
07881704260
