A river has been given a new lease of life thanks to a restoration project involving the Environment Agency, Tattenhall Wildlife Group, and the Bolesworth Estate.
Tattenhall is situated in south west Cheshire, twelve kilometers south east of the city of Chester, near Liverpool.
The landscape of the Parish is characterised by the Cheshire Plain, a gently rolling pastoral landscape separating the Sandstone Ridge from the Clwydian range of hills in North Wales.
The Parish lies on the watershed separating two major river systems – the Dee and the Mersey. Of the three water courses which flow through the Parish, the Mill Brook and the Keys Brook flow into the River Dee and in the north of the Parish, the River Gowy flows into the Mersey near Ellesmere Port.
The scheme, along Mill Brook in Tattenhall , has created habitats for wildlife to thrive and introduced innovative “natural flood management” techniques.
In November 2000, water from Mill Brook flooded a number of homes and businesses in the village.
The Environment Agency’s Lee Swift, a geomorphologist who helped design the scheme, said: “The river restoration at Tattenhall has improved habitat for wildlife and has also increased the floodwater storage area upstream. Overall, the scheme has provided multiple benefits for people and wildlife.”
Tattenhall Wildlife Group have identified the Mill Brook as an important wildlife corridor which passes through the heart of the village in Tattenhall and in February 2011 a management agreement was signed with the Bolesworth Estate to care for a significant part of this land which runs alongside the Mill Brook complementing three other sites (Glebe Meadow, Barn Field and the Spinney) already managed by TWiG on behalf of Tattenhall and District Parish Council.
In total TWiG now manages 7.5 hectares (18 acres) of land which lies adjacent to the Mill Brook extending for up to 4 kilometres east and west of the village. For much of this length the land is accessible to the local community and, since February 2011, has seen the introduction of a new and increasingly popular, permissive footpath linking up with other local footpaths.