What's going on in river restoration in England?

Catchment-scale restoration: working with nature from soil to sea

The government's 25 year plans for improving the condition of our water environments are hugely ambitious. Yet efforts to restore 75% of England’s rivers, their catchments and coasts to a state of 'close to natural' are responding to that challenge. A greater focus on catchment-scale actions that encourage natural processes to work from soil to sea is critical to this success. Supported by our Water Leaders – representing key partners and stakeholders across the country – the Environment Agency and Natural England are working to embed these principles into our strategies and programmes of restoration. With new and existing partnerships, we are focusing on restoration that has a nature-led approach right at its heart.

A growing evidence base

Our strategies and actions are informed by the best available evidence. The Environment Agency and Natural England are collaborating with the other organisations as part of the River Restoration and Biodiversity Programme seeking best practice in restoration appraisal to understand the effectiveness of measures. Other additions to the evidence base include:

• Our own investigations – e.g. restoration success following weir removal, comparing invertebrate response in the benthos and hyporheos and Chalk stream restoration using wood
• Achieving Net Zero carbon emissions: a review of the evidence behind carbon offsetting
• Working with natural processes to reduce flood risk
• Understanding the climate and biodiversity crisis
• 3D buffer strips: designed to deliver more for the environment
• The social benefits of Blue Space
• A systems-based approach to catchment water management
• Improving river habitats to support wildlife during low flows

Please contact Judy England for further information

Natural recovery: let nature do the work

We know nature can be powerful. It can move entire rivers and transport tonnes of sediment. Importantly it can restore lost processes, recover modified landscapes and habitats, and generate natural resilience. Nature can do this all by itself, and if we give it time and space it can work for us. With care, and alongside other interventions, a planned approach that lets nature do the work can underpin many restoration plans.

Below is an example of just how well nature can work for us. Re-forming lost dynamism and physical landforms within a section of the River Caldew in Cumbria. These changes occurred over a sixteen year period, after high flows and restored a previously modified channel (straightened). It’s clear from the photos that as recovery progressed, natural channel and marginal features and habitats developed. The most recent phase of recovery led to channel re-meandering and extensive gravel bar development, creating good habitat and natural sinks for sediment with potential channel conveyance benefits downstream.    

River Caldew, Cumbria: Nature doing the work (images © Ordnance Survey / © Environment Agency)

2000: modified channel with very few natural features.

2010: natural recovery initiated following high flows.

2015: continued recovery as features are encouraged to develop.

2016: river meanders and gravel features formed as river recovers.

The sort of natural recovery – a welcome gesture from nature – can form part of planned restoration work. The River Till Restoration Strategy demonstrates the use of natural recovery particularly well.

The River Till and its main tributaries are of high conservation and ecological importance (130km of river SSSI and SAC designated). However, the physical state of the river channel is the principal reason the SSSI is in 'unfavourable condition'. Efforts are underway to assist natural recovery of the system across the catchment, with the goal of moving seven of the SSSI units to favourable condition. Implementation is currently managed as a three–way partnership between Tweed Forum, the Environment Agency and Natural England.

One element of this implementation phase includes the River Glen Restoration Project. The river is a high energy system that has seen changes in its course (avulsions) and floodplain evolution (see photo to the right). Previously constrained by historical physical modification, between 2008 and 2016 a mile long reach of the river in the Lanton area experienced 3 full river avulsions caused by the combination of large floods and floodbank failures. In each case the river was “returned” to its original course and the floodbanks rebuilt, but these measures didn’t prevent the rapid morphological changes kick started by these events. Since 2016, the river is rapidly moving towards a wandering planform, putting further pressure on the remaining defences and agricultural land. The partnership has worked with the 4 local Estates to develop a plan that will remove derelict floodbanks, thereby creating the space for further planform evolution, and floodplain re-connection. Elsewhere, existing floodbanks are being set back, a culvert will be removed and a road lowered to provide space for the river and floodwater, whilst providing greater resilience for the remaining local infrastructure and agricultural land. Work is currently underway, with funding from the Water Environment Grant (WEG) to deliver this programme of actions. These interventions will assist and further enable the natural recovery of this section of river.

Avulsion on the River Glen in 2008 (© Environment Agency)

In combination with other interventions across the catchment (e.g. weir removal, floodplain fencing and green bank protection measures), the River Till strategy clearly demonstrates how natural recovery – in naturally dynamic environments – can play an important role in catchment-scale restoration.

Much more information about the River Till Restoration Strategy and the River Glen Project is available via the Tweed Forum website.

Empowered partnerships and communities

Contrasting environments with different issues will inevitably need different approaches for restoration. In many lowland environments, where natural processes are often perhaps lower-key or more subtle, different types of assistance may be needed.

The Evenlode Project in the Littlestock Brook demonstrates the value of partnerships and community and how local empowerment, planning with businesses and knowledge sharing can deliver a range of benefits in lowland, agricultural catchments. Measures to reduce diffuse phosphate run-off, sediment delivery and flood risk are deployed across a rural tributary of the Thames (including ponds, bunds and leaky wooden dams, tree planting and culvert removal), and implemented with investment and resources from private and public organisations, local communities and businesses. These interventions are designed to work with or re-create natural forms and processes; adding back elements of the physical and biological system that would be harder to generate if left entirely to nature.

Not only are these interventions good for the environment, they provide a significant boost to the feel-good factor within the community – but more because we have attempted to find a partial solution for their flood risk and water quality issues in Milton-under-Wychwood and evidenced it with monitoring and modelling. The side benefits of habitat, recreation (new footpath), tree planting – carbon sequestration have been much appreciated too.

Evenlode Project in the Littlestock Brook. On-line pond and demonstration event in 2019. Credit: Environment Agency.

Further information about the Evenlode Project and the Catchment Partnership is available via the links below:

• Project video
• Evenlode Catchment Partnership

Future programmes and plans

We know that restoration works on multiple scales, some of the best outcomes achieved via a whole system approach; working at scale, nature-led and in partnership with communities, government and industry. The examples above, from the Littlestock Brook and the River Till catchments demonstrate this nicely, with the benefits they provide addressing multiple environmental issues (below).

But what about future strategies, plans and programmes – the mechanism for doing even more system scale, joined-up, nature-based restoration?

A lot of work is already underway and even more is planned. The Environment Agency are working with partners across multiple policy areas, and three examples below highlight some of this ongoing work.

1. Environmental Land Management schemes. Three new schemes that will reward environmental land management and include incentives to reward local nature and landscape recovery. Embedding principles that work right across catchments and with natural processes, giving space for rivers and floodplains to re-connect and improve and protect soils and water.   

• Sustainable Farming Incentive
• Local Nature Recovery
• Landscape Recovery

Schemes two and three are due to pilot next year and launch in 2024.

2. National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England. The strategy describes what needs to be done by all risk management authorities involved in flood and coastal erosion risk management. With this and supporting government policy recognising the need to 'make nature’s power part of our solution', the focus on protecting people and improving our natural river and coastal systems. Adapting to climate change through improved catchment resilience, becoming increasingly more important. The FCERM Strategy Action Plan 2021 provides additional detail. 

3. The updated draft Flood Risk and River Basin Management Plans will be published for consultation later this year. Building on the feedback received from the Challenges and Choices consultation 2019/2020, they'll set out current and proposed future programmes of measures for the water environment. Including measures and mechanisms to enable even more catchment-scale, nature-lead restoration. Those we are familiar with already (e.g. the Environment and Agriculture Bills, Biodiversity Net Gain, and the Water Industry Price Review 2024). Plus proposals to maintain and up-scale efforts across many core themes, including; natural capital, better planning for water, future financing and nature-based solutions. Our work with the Water Leaders Group continues to support many of these important initiatives.

Please make sure you continue to have your say in how we manage the water environment in England. Look out for further information about the updated draft Flood Risk and River Basin Management Plan consultations later this year.

To find out more about current restoration case studies please go to the RiverWiki, it holds over 1,000 case studies from 31 countries, including over 700 from England. Recent examples added include the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust work to realign the course of the Broadwater Brook an urban chalk stream or the Afon Merin Natural Process Restoration restoring the disconnected floodplain currently in progress by Natural Resources Wales.

Thank you

For further information please contact Glenn Maas at the Environment Agency.