Case study:Whit Beck River Restoration Project

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Location: 54° 36' 40.86" N, 3° 18' 43.29" W

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Project overview

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Status	In progress
Project web site
Themes	Environmental flows and water resources, Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Land use management - agriculture, Land use management - forestry
Country	England
Main contact forename	Ian
Main contact surname	Creighton
Main contact user ID	User:Ian Creighton
Contact organisation	West Cumbria Rivers Trust
Contact organisation web site	http://westcumbriariverstrust.org
Partner organisations	Environment Agency & Natural England
Parent multi-site project	Case_study:Cumbria River Restoration Strategy
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

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Project summary

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Whit Beck was an ambitious major pilot river restoration project undertaken by West Cumbria Rivers Trust on the behalf of the Environment Agency and Natural England summer 2014. This project was undertaken on Whit Beck, a fast flowing spate tributary of the River Cocker (River Derwent SSSI) in the English Lake District. A 350m section of heavily modified raised river channel was successfully diverted to natural self-sustainable diverse watercourse. The benefits include: • Restoration of natural river processes and associated features (WFD requirement) • Increase in stream length (over 3 fold - 1205m) and channel area (4/5 fold) • Provision of a wider range of habitats enabling fish to carry out the various stages of their life cycles within the new reach • Significantly improvement in floodplain connectivity (flood storage) • Increased in channel storage for gravels • The provision of wildlife corridors (plants, insects and animals) • Increased flood proofing for fish redds • New deciduous woodlands and woodland strips • Enhanced landscape

There were four parties with a vested interest in Whit Beck, two farmers, one tenant and an independent landowner. The scheme was entirely voluntary and all parties had to be on board for the project to get off the ground and succeed. It took two years of planning, investigations and engineering to complete. The total cost over the life of the project is in the vicinity of £700k. Construction was completed by the end of September 2014.

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Image gallery

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The heavily modified raised river channel

Before divesion

During construction of new channel

Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Edit the catchment and subcatchment details (affects all case studies in this subcatchment) Catchment River basin district North West River basin Derwent (NW) Subcatchment River name Whit Beck Area category 10 - 100 km² Area (km2) Maximum altitude category 500 - 1000 m Maximum altitude (m) 785785 m <br />0.785 km <br />78,500 cm <br /> Dominant geology Siliceous Ecoregion Great Britain Dominant land cover Permanent pasture and woodland strips Waterbody ID GB112075070380 Other case studies in this subcatchment: Cumbria River Restoration Program - Whitbeck restoration project - West Cumbria Site Edit site Name WFD water body codes GB112075070380 WFD (national) typology Mid, Small, Siliceous WFD water body name Whit Beck Pre-project morphology Straightened, Reinforced banks Reference morphology Actively meandering Desired post project morphology Actively meandering, Single channel Heavily modified water body No National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present No Invasive species present No Species of interest Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), Otter (Lutra lutra), Floating water-plantain (Luronium natans), lamprey Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use Improved/semi-improved grassland/pasture Average bankfull channel width category Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) 0.3km increased to 1.2km"kmincreasedto1.2km" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property. Project started 2013/10/01 Works started 2014/06/16 Works completed 2014/10/03 Project completed Total cost category 500 - 1000 k€ Total cost (k€) Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Environment Agency & Natural England Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Hydromorphology Heavily engineered high level carrier Biology Limited habitat Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Re-connect river with floodplain and reduction of substrate delivery to R Cocker Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Constructed new natural channel and imported mixed substrate for the new river to sort Floodplain / River corridor Re-connected to local floodplain and provided a site for gravel deposition to help reduce build up in River Cocker Planform / Channel pattern Channel naturalisation; Creation of new meandering channel Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Significant engagement with local community Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Whitbeck RRS Project Summary Oct 2014.docx Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information