Restoring an urban river in Salisbury with volunteers:  Contributing to community cohesion

Martin Gilchrist  (Natural England - martin.gilchrist@naturalengland.org.uk)

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

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Abstract

The Living River is a £1 million project that aims to increase awareness and appreciation of the River Avon and its tributaries with a focus on how the special wildlife of the river has developed alongside the history of the area. Working with local communities from the river’s headwaters in the Wiltshire Downs to the sea at Christchurch, the project will involve people who live and work in the River Avon catchment in the conservation of its natural heritage. The four year project (2006-2010) is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and works closely with the EU STrategic REstoration And Management (STREAM) project.

The restoration work in Salisbury aims to:

 •  provide some naturalness to a heavily-engineered section of river; and

 •  engage local people in the work.

All the work is within a 500m radius in the centre of the city. It includes the repair and upgrading of some existing restoration, and the creation of some highly visible marginal shelves in both the main river channel and the flood relief channel. The majority of this work has been accomplished through working with volunteers with some sections undertaken by a contractor. We have involved Wildlife Trust Volunteers, employees from major local firms, youth groups and organisations, local secondary schools and socially-disadvantaged groups such as young people permanently excluded from school.

The enhancement work undertaken is not cutting edge but uses established techniques where there is evidence already available on the ecological success. We did not set out with the creation of community cohesion as an aim but we have realised that our work did contribute to this, although much of the evidence for this is anecdotal.

Keywords

The Living River; urban river restoration; community cohesion; volunteers