Day Brook water meadow project:  Small-scale urban river restoration of the Day Brook, Nottingham

Ros Kaye  (Environment Agency - ros.kaye@environment-agency.gov.uk)

Proceedings paper from the 10th Annual River Restoration Centre Network Conference, 1st - 2nd April 2009

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Abstract

Heavily engineered rivers are often synonymous with urban environments and the Day Brook in Nottingham is characteristic of this. Devoid of many natural features and supporting limited floral and faunal communities, the Day Brook has little or no interaction with its natural floodplain. Flanked by housing, industrial and recreational sites along its entire length, the Brook has been subject to a number of flood improvement schemes which have seen it straightened, deepened and intensively managed. A number of artificial flood storage areas were also constructed, one of which provided a suitable location and space for a restoration project.

Opportunities for river restoration along a river such as the Day Brook are unsurprisingly rare; however, the Day Brook Water Meadow Project is a good example of urban river restoration for the benefit of the local ecology and local community alike.

The project aimed to improve the conservation value of the Day Brook without detriment to the flood defence function of the storage area. A partnership between the Environment Agency and Nottingham City Council (the landowner) delivered the restoration scheme in Summer 2007. A key part of the project was also to enhance an urban green space for the local community as well as improving the biodiversity value.

Prior to the project, the Day Brook ran along the northern boundary of the storage area. The channel was a man-made, over-deep, straight channel barely noticeable from the surrounding footpaths and supporting very little floral or faunal interest.

Working within the confines of the existing infrastructure, the 2007 works re-meandered the channel through the adjacent flood storage area, increasing the length of channel from approximately 250m to 320m. The channel was designed to exhibit natural features such as pools and riffles, shallow berms and an online reedbed. Permanently wet and ephemeral scrapes were created alongside the new channel and a low-lying area was seeded with an appropriate seed mix with the hope that wet grassland would establish over time.

One year on and the site is fully vegetated and functioning well as a newly created urban habitat, flood storage area and recreational facility for local people. Prior to the works, the site was utilised primarily by dog walkers who visited the site for its open space and not the presence of the Brook itself. The Brook was deemed to be neglected and an ‘eyesore’. Restoring the Day Brook and its floodplain has not only increased the biodiversity value of the area, but has also provided an improved recreational facility for local people. The Day Brook is now an integral part of the site and consequently what visitors experience. Although not primarily designed as a flood risk management/flood alleviation project, reconnection of the Day Brook to its natural flood plain has greatly reduced localised flooding frequencies by increasing water attenuation upstream of susceptible structures and properties.

Although there is the obvious conflict between retaining the ecological value of a site and disturbing it through recreation, this project has highlighted how recreation and community interest can benefit an urban river environment. As more local people use the site, they begin to take ownership of it.  They begin to appreciate the ecological interest it harbours and ultimately respect and value this river and other rivers as an integral part of their urban environment.

Keywords

community; ecology; flood alleviation; urban restoration