Case study:Haltwhistle burn; a total catchment approach

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Location: 54° 58' 1.10" N, 2° 26' 22.75" W

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Project overview

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Status	In progress
Project web site
Themes	Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Land use management - agriculture, Land use management - forestry, Monitoring, Water quality
Country	England
Main contact forename	Ceri
Main contact surname	Gibson
Main contact user ID	User:Halty
Contact organisation	Tyne Rivers Trust
Contact organisation web site	http://tyneriverstrust.org/
Partner organisations	Haltwhistle Town Council, Northumberland National Park, Northumberland County Council, Forestry Commission, Natural England, Environment Agency, Newcastle University (NiRES), Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Ltd
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

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Project summary

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Haltwhistle Burn: ‘a total catchment’ approach is a partnership project which will use CRF funds to improve the whole catchment which has suffered the pressures of quarrying, farming, industry and an increasing population. Although the ‘official’ reasons for failure concern pressures on fish according to the criteria provided by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) this project addresses total waterbody issues deriving from a multitude of pressures, each creating ‘sub-lethal’ but chronic stresses. Haltwhistle’s ‘Centre of Britain’ identity, together with attraction of Hadrian’s Wall makes it a po-tentially significant tourism centre, with a focus on both heritage and natural features. There are however significant economic difficulties and youth behaviour issues. Haltwhistle Burn is a central focus and has already attracted works of improvement and interpretation by the Haltwhis-tle Partnership. Since the 2007 floods in the town, Tyne Rivers Trust has nurtured excellent relationships with agencies and extremely enthusiastic individuals directly connected to their catchment. Whilst the project is not a flood defence project this CRF funding now gives us a clear focus for agency action and direct spending on mitigating excess runoff and pollution.

Tyne Rivers Trust have already carried out geomorphological and habitat assessment of the entire burn, concluding that the ‘catchment approach’ would, by combining the small issues, create a significant benefit for the South Tyne and address the WFD ‘poor status’ classification.

Monitoring surveys and results

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This project is still in progress. To date we have restored 45m of channel and 200m of river bank. We have planted 190 trees. We have set up photographic fixed point monitoring sites for the river bank management work and after one season of regrowth the work is doing what we had hoped. We have 3 Riverfly monitors sampling on the burn and to date none of our intervention has had a negative effect. We have completed the preliminary electro-fishing surveys; the next permissible electro-fishing sweason is from July 2014. Another element of this project is also working with the local community to gather information on rainfall, river level, water temperature, turbidity, other chemical water quality measurements and fixed-point photography.

Lessons learnt

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It is impossible to achievement multiple benefits in a hollistic approach project without the support and commitment of partners, local land owners and local residents. We have only managed to achieve this through dedicating time to bringing the right people together and explaining clearly our aims and overlapping benefits. Only then can efective work on the ground begin. It is vital to consider legacy and exit-strategy right from the beginning. Working at the sub-catchment scale cannot be considered in the short-term. Management and maintenance of interventions must be planned for and bought into within the community.

Image gallery

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Electro-fishing with volunteers

Forestry Commission trees marked ready for leaky dam creation

Felled tree secured with cable to protect bank and create habitat

Forest road drain runs over rough ground rather than into watercourse

Green revetment ensures outflow channel does not silt up

Haltwhistle River Watch Group LOVE Northumberland award

Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Edit the catchment and subcatchment details (affects all case studies in this subcatchment) Catchment River basin district Northumbria River basin Tyne Subcatchment River name South Tyne from Black Burn to Allen Area category 100 - 1000 km² Area (km2) Maximum altitude category 500 - 1000 m Maximum altitude (m) 655655 m <br />0.655 km <br />65,500 cm <br /> Dominant geology Calcareous Ecoregion Great Britain Dominant land cover Improved grassland Waterbody ID GB103023075530 Site Edit site Name Haltwhistle WFD water body codes WFD (national) typology WFD water body name Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body No National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present No Invasive species present No Species of interest Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use 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) Project started Works started Works completed Project completed Total cost category 100 - 500 k€ Total cost (k€) 425425 k€ <br />425,000 € <br /> Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Catchment Restoration Funds 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 Farming, Industry, Urbanisation Hydromorphology Freshwater flow regime Biology Fish Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Floodplain / River corridor Removal of barriers Planform / Channel pattern Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Management of organic and inorganic sediments, Improve forest management and agricultural Social measures (incl. engagement) Increase awareness of flood issues Other Community engagement with, and responsibility for, the delivery within every strand of this project will be encour-aged. A Tyne Rivers Trust River Watch group has already been set up collating existing local knowledge, carrying out some improvement tasks such as tree planting and to achieve monitoring via fixed point photography, inverte-brate analysis, electro-fishing, and rainfall and flow measurements. The local school has also experiences a ‘Living Rivers’ day with Tyne Rivers Trust exploring their local burn and issues of the wider catchment. They will be further engaged as the project develops. 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 RRC Monitoring table - Haltwhistle Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents CRF Project briefing note - Haltwhistle Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information