European funds still bankrolling Tweed catchment projects

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

The latest phase of a 6.8 million Euros environmental initiative to upgrade river and coastal habitats in the Scottish Borders and Northumberland will see significant restoration works on the Till to combat pollution from agriculture and enhance water quality.

The Harehope River Restoration Project is out to tender with an estimated £400,000 price tag. According to the contract notice, published by Tweed Forum, the works will include channel and scrape excavation alongside a large timber installation.

Tweed Forum is working in conjunction with Natural England, the Environment Agency and Newcastle University to deliver the so-called Life Wader project, a five-year plan backed by a contribution of four million Euros from the European Union.

Consultants AECOM have been involved in designing the restoration plans for the Breamish which forms part of the River Till, a tributary of the Tweed.

According to AECOM: "The River Breamish flows through Northumberland National Park and is a designated Special Area of Conservation due to its importance for species including Atlantic salmon, brown trout, sea trout, otters, and floating beds of water crowfoot.

"However, a three kilometre reach near Harehope has been heavily realigned and degraded by past land use practices, including extensive straightening, and raised flood embankments. There have been structural failures in places, leading to frequent overtopping. It also affected the river’s ecology and its ability to support fish populations."

The project will restore meanders to the river for more than two kilometres, rehabilitating over 40 hectares of floodplains. 

"Our design involves low-cost, high-gain strategic breaching of the embankments with large wood dams to deflect flows back into floodplain meanders. The restored river will have re-naturalised form and function, with improved habitats for fish and other aquatic species". 

The Life Wader project which began in 2021 aims to improve almost 50,000 hectares of freshwater, dune and marine habitats from favourable/not secure and unfavourable status towards favourable/secure status – and to restore species to designation levels. This in turn should deliver climate change benefits, increasing the ecosystems’ resilience to extreme weather events and other climate change pressures.

Key objectives include delivering:  

 Improved water quality in and around the River Tweed, the Tweed Estuary and key coastal stream entry points into the SAC [Special Area of Conservation]/SPA [Special Project Area] sites;

 Enhanced cross-border working with regulators on water quality;

 Removal of opportunistic macro-algae smothering intertidal habitats;

 Reduced disturbance to birds/mammals/sensitive habitats by assessing sites’ carrying capacity and pressure points, including pressure from tourism.

Issues that are affecting the area include: elevated levels of nitrates and phosphates that negatively impact water quality, and affect fresh water, coastal and marine habitats.

The presence of excessive macroalgae growth smothers intertidal plant species, among them seagrass, which impacts a variety of ecosystem services, such as providing food for internationally important wading and waterfowl birds.

The agencies involved in the Life Wader project are concerned about growing recreational and visitor pressure, especially on the coast, which is damaging habitats and disturbing sensitive bird species.

According to the partnership: "the arrival of new invasive alien species and persistence of established species threaten native species and sensitive habitats in riparian, coastal and marine areas. Low levels of awareness of the interconnectivity between the river, coastal and marine habitats hamper long-term conservation efforts".