Please find detailed below an update for the NFM project on the River Isbourne catchment.

Beesmoor Brook

Works at the Charlton Abbotts estate has now been completed.  11 woody dams have been placed along the tributary referred to as ‘Cole’s Hill’ and a further 8 dams have been placed along the Willis’ Coppice section upstream of Waterhatch. When including the original 9 dams at Waterhatch completed earlier, we now have 28 dams in place on Charlton Abbotts estate.

Sudeley Lodge

The land manager has shown interest in the project and we are waiting for the go ahead before we can proceed with any works.

Sudeley Castle

The Castle have agreed to be part of the project and we have a ‘Project 1’ plan drawn up, however part of this will need the go ahead from Sudeley Lodge, as they own the other side of the watercourse.

A ‘Project 2’ walkover has identified lots of scope for NFM works on other areas of the Castle’s estate, so we can get going further downstream while we wait for the go ahead on ‘Project 1’.

Laverton Hill Farm, Snowshill

Works have now been completed on this site which involved the re-profiling of a steep farm track to encourage overland flow to divert into a natural depression, where it should infiltrate into the ground. A similar technique was also applied to a steep footpath on the site.

An attenuation bund was constructed along a downstream section of a depression, again to encourage water to be stored and infiltrated (taking it out of the overland flow system and reducing the amount of water travelling downstream).

Two spring lines on the site have each had two attenuation areas made along them, with a 150mm pipe inserted along the spring line to ensure baseflow at all times. The limited pipe size will encourage water to back up and ‘store’ during times of high flow. There are 8 interventions in total at this site, see photos below:

Laverton Hill Farm, Snowshill – Future works

After recent visits there is so much more potential for further ponds and wetlands, creating further storage for the catchment and the land manager is keen to undertake a second project.

Laverton Village

A contact from a land owner before Christmas facilitated a walkover of the area. We have agreed a project in principle which will consist of several leaky dams, track works and possibly some aeration of the land.

Farmcote – Project 1

We have agreed a plan for a project at the very top of the tributary in Farmcote which will consist of a series of leaky dams and storage areas, one of which will utilise a large mill pond so should be of a considerable size.

Farmcote – Project 2

A second project has been agreed with the next landowner downstream from Project 1 and will consist of one attenuation pond and several leaky dams. They are willing to undertake the works themselves and are hoping to start ground works towards the end of March.