]> 2026-04-07T12:19:18+00:00 Case study:Upper Witham Restoration 500 en Upper Witham River Prize Film 2024 Approved Various in-channel measures e.g brushwood berms tree hinging Weir Bypass and removal Environment Agency East Mercia Rivers Trust formerly Lincolnshire Rivers Trust Wild Trout Trust National Trust Grantham Angling Association Fly Fishing Section South Kesteven District Council University of Lincoln. Great Britain Yes Yes Yes false Pic 2 -Colsterworth October 2023.JPG Belton floodplain inundating Winter 2023.jpg Pic 3 -Wyndham Park Project Grantham 2019.jpg Mar 23 Photo.jpg Pic 4 -Grange Farm Stage Zero Winter 2023.jpg Colsterworth just after restoration. Belton floodplain inundating Winter 2023 Wyndham Park Project 2019 Cringle Brook after restoration. Grange Farm Stage Zero Winter 2023. Yes To get maximum benefit from projects, in areas with less constraints, we needed to look wider than interventions focused just within the channel and consider the floodplain as well. Further learning for individual projects can be found in the project specific case studies. 52.92952349785,-0.62818649110592 David Environment Agency Hutchinson Changes to floodplain management practice Various in-channel measures e.g brushwood berms, tree hinging,,Bed raising, floodplain lowering and floodplain roughening.,Weir Bypass and removal ,Changes to floodplain management practice,Community engagement and education e,g River School., We have learnt a great deal about lowland restoration and have applied this learning as the projects have progressed. Valuable feedback has come from revisiting project sites and undertaking objective reviews e.g 2018 Wild Trout Trust report . This is how we identified the importance of gravel and floodplain connectivity. We have long term ecological data for sites in the river that indicate that habitat works play a part in the continued improvement and prevention of determination of the ecology e.g Foston Ford fish surveys. Other sites like Easton Park show the limitations of some of the early in-channel techniques particular for fish populations although other factors like pollution incidents and low flow may be playing a role. Trout Redd surveys also provide good supporting data. Other monitoring techniques we have used include geomorphological surveys and drone topographical surveys. As the larger projects continue to evolve, our understanding of the impact they are having continues to develop, but it is clear following the storm events of winter 23/24 that we are undertaking projects that are both sustainable and are returning dynamic river processes to a lowland system. 27182 East Mercia Rivers Trust, formerly Lincolnshire Rivers Trust, Wild Trout Trust, National Trust, Grantham Angling Association Fly Fishing Section, South Kesteven District Council, University of Lincoln. Wetted floodplain at Manthorpe following restoration Manthorpe wetted floodplain in winter 23.jpg 2013-01-01Z 2456293.5 In progress The Upper Witham has been subject to significant changes which have modified the river and its hydrological functioning. These legacy interventions have been damaging to habitat and with serious pollution incidents, climate change implications and invasive species threats, native species such as White Clawed Cray-fish and Brown Trout are at risk of local extinction. A ground water fed system has now also become far more reactive in response to an increase in storm intensity across the area. Habitat improvement, rejuvenating a self-regulating functional active river system has been an aspiration for stakeholders working in the catchment for some time. Initial attempts at improving in-channel habitat from 2013 (EA, WTT and GAAFFs) used hinged trees and berms to narrow the river and scour pools. In the lower reaches, downstream of Grantham, this provided habitat in a system where it had previously been removed and was a good addition. Reviews of work did however indicate that this approach was not always having the desired effect; linked to very resistant clay bed and banks, poor gravel supply, and a lack of floodplain connectivity. Lessons were learned and subsequent landowner and flood risk engagement took place. These were applied in the EA and NT’s Belton project which began in 2016 with imported gravels added at the time. This worked well and provided a blueprint for works in the nearby urban setting of Wyndham Park, Grantham (EA and SKDC in 2017). More urban projects in the town followed from the Rivers Trusts (Dysart Park 2020) and most notably the Blue Green corridor project led by SKDC with more gravels added, trees hinged, berms created, and wildflower and wetlands introduced widely along the river. Belton was revisited in 2023 where floodplain connectivity was increased through strategic floodplain lowering and reconnection using live and dead woody material as the driver for change. The scale and ambition of individual projects increased with a more recent focus on larger scale projects connecting rivers with their floodplains more frequently. Manthorpe flood bank removal in 2020 (WTT and EA), Upper Cringle Brook ‘stage 8’ 2022 (EMRT), Grange Farm Stage 0 restoration (EA 2021) and Colsterworth (EMRT 2023) system reactivation, as well as innovative techniques such as smaller size gravel augmentation downstream of weirs (2023, WTT and GAAFFS at Papermill weir). Three large scale weir easement projects have also taken place at Aubourn (2016), Great Ponton (2015) and Easton (2014). Upper Witham Restoration upper witham restoration Yes 80000 Witham Anglian Bed raising floodplain lowering and floodplain roughening. Upper Witham upper witham Upper Witham Restoration upper witham restoration Community engagement and education e g River School. Brown Trout Otters Water voles and Native Crayfish 10 - 100 km² 46 Less than 100 m Upper Witham GB105030056760 Fisheries Flood risk management Habitat and biodiversity Social benefits GB105030056780 GB105030051570 GB105030051560 Upper Witham - Headwaters to Confluence Cringle Brook, Upper Witham Confluence Cringle Brook to Confluence Brant and Upper Cringle Brook 2024-02-26T12:44:31Z 2460367.0309144 2024-05-24T09:31:10Z 2460454.8966435 Upper Witham Restoration 500 1 plainlist 5 [[Category:Case study]] [[Project title::!Upper Witham Restoration]] [[Subcatchment title::Upper Witham]] Upper Witham Restoration# QUERY61421d267a26c5c069a9e95665f7cc59 500 1 list 3 [[Category:Case study]] [[Parent project::Case study:Upper Witham Restoration]] Upper Witham Restoration# QUERY075701be0c18b5454178e235fe13a879 Case study:Upper Cringle Floodplain Restoration Project 500 en Upper Cringle Floodplain Restoration Project Case study:Stainby Road, Colsterworth 500 en Stainby Road, Colsterworth Case study:Upper River Witham : Easton 500 en Upper River Witham : Easton Case study:River Witham Great Ponton 500 en River Witham Great Ponton Case study:Papermill Weir Section in-channel restoration 500 en Papermill Weir Section in-channel restoration Case study:Dysart Park, Grantham Habitat Improvement 500 en Dysart Park, Grantham Habitat Improvement Case study:Grantham Blue Green - Urban Reach 500 en Grantham Blue Green - Urban Reach Case study:Wyndham Park, Grantham 500 en Wyndham Park, Grantham Case study:Manthorpe Floodplain Reconnection 500 en Manthorpe Floodplain Reconnection Case study:Belton Floodplain Reconnection and River Restoration 500 en Belton Floodplain Reconnection and River Restoration Case study:Syston and Barkston Restoration 500 en Syston and Barkston Restoration Case study:Aubourn Rock Ramp and Habitat Works 500 en Aubourn Rock Ramp and Habitat Works Case study:Westborough 500 en Westborough Case study:Little Ponton 500 en Little Ponton Parent project 102 en Parent project