As part of the Clyst Valley Regional Park, a green space improvement scheme covering an area almost the size of Exeter, we helped the Environment Agency and East Devon District Council to research and develop a large-scale restoration project covering three kilometres and 51 hectares of rivers and floodplains for biodiversity and natural flood management in Devon.
The name of the River Clyst derives from Old English, meaning ‘clean-stream’, but the river had fallen into poor condition. After analysing historic channel and floodplain habitats, we found the river and its local tributaries to have been extensively diverted and realigned. This resulted in a uniform and degraded river environment with little aquatic and wetland biodiversity which still floods regularly.
Sustainable and low maintenance restoration
We reconstructed the natural habitat types that would have existed prior to river modifications, defining and costing a sustainable and low maintenance river restoration scheme, made up of a restored channel network and floodplain mosaic of varying aquatic, wetland, and terrestrial habitats.
Our proposed restoration scheme was presented to 30 local stakeholders including landowners, infrastructure and asset managers, wildlife trusts, regulators, and local and district councillors. We presented maps of the landscape’s historic evolution, while illustrating concepts for the future restored site. The benefits of the restoration impact biodiversity, natural flood management, climate resilience, water quality, carbon, public amenity, and access. The plans are helping to secure funding for implementation of the restoration vision.