]> 2026-04-11T18:28:03+00:00 Case study:River Avon Restoration Project 500 en Approved Environment Agency Wessex Flood Defence Grant-in-Aid Yes No Yes false No 51.3069481,-1.8099446 Alasdair Environment Agency Maxwell ,Lowering of embankments, Removal of embankments,, ,,, 23674 3 Avon.png 2011 2455562.5 Complete The River Avon is one of the most important river systems in the UK, supporting internationally and nationally important habitats and species. The river is designated as the River Avon System Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The SSSI covers the River Avon, its major tributaries and parts of the floodplain. The River Till, a tributary of the River Wylye, is designated as a separate SSSI. Habitats associated with the river include swamp, wet woodland and wet grassland habitats. The River Avon System SSSI and River Till SSSI are also designated internationally through the Habitats Directive as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The SAC supports internationally rare and threatened species. The lower reaches of the River Avon and its floodplain, one of the largest expanses of unimproved floodplain grazing marsh in Britain, are designated as the Avon Valley (Bickton to Christchurch) SSSI. The area is also a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area (SPA). It supports a complex mosaic of wetland habitats including fens, mires, wet grassland, wet woodland and unimproved floodplain grassland. Important species include populations of breeding and over-wintering wetland birds, and rare wetland plants and insects. A strategy was developed to determine the issues affecting the river's geomorphological functioning and associated condition of the various designations. Based on this strategy, the River Avon Restoration Project was developed to identify measures to restore the river on a reach-by-reach basis. The Environment Agency agreed with Natural England to undertake the more complex measures and reaches, with the Project Board supporting project partners and other interest groups to put in place less complex measures where required. The River Avon Restoration Project is primarily a catchment-scale river restoration strategy. However, some of the individual completed projects can also be considered as delivering Natural Flood Management (NFM) benefits. This is because they are principally Working with Natural Processes (WWNP), creating a more naturally connected and functioning river and floodplain. River Avon Restoration Project river avon restoration project http://www.therrc.co.uk/sites/default/files/projects/3_avon.pdf No Lowering of embankments Removal of embankments Avon avon Flood risk management Habitat and biodiversity Hydromorphology Land use management - agriculture Water quality 2018-11-01T10:16:02Z 2458423.9278009 2018-11-01T13:53:53Z 2458424.0790857 River Avon Restoration Project 500 [2,"smw_unitnotallowed","\u00a3"] River Avon Restoration Project# ERR7c4821480ce616a602940635f30465e2