Last updated: October 2021
46.5 hectares of nationally-important habitat was restored in Doncaster as part of an Environment Agency-led project benefiting communities and wildlife. The work across seven woodland areas was designed to help improve water quality, reduce flood risk, and enhance natural habitats for protected species. By providing additional flood storage the project is able to help attenuate both peak and flood flow from rainfall events, reducing flood risk and damage and reducing the financial and carbon cost of pumping water from the Torne catchment. Although this project extended beyond Doncaster, Sandall Beat in Doncaster was part of the key sites (Ref 1).
therrc.co.uk
https://www.therrc.co.uk/sites/default/files/projects/26_torne.pdf
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Parks and urban forests
- Large urban parks or forests
- Blue infrastructure
- Rivers/streams/canals/estuaries
- Green areas for water management
- Other
Key challenges
- Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
- Climate change adaptation
- Water management (SDG 6)
- Flood protection
- Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity restoration
- Habitat and biodiversity conservation
- Green space creation and/or management
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Environmental education
Focus
Maintenance and management of urban nature, Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas
Project objectives
- To improve water quality, reduce flood risk by creating more space for the water, enhance natural habitats for protected species such as the Willow Tit, and improve access for visitors.
- To link each of the woodland sites to a local community group. As well as providing health and wellbeing benefits to communities this also helps to ensure legacy and sustainability benefits.
- To lessen the reliance on the Keadby Pumping Station, bringing down the carbon and financial costs of using it to artificially drain excess water from the River Torne into the River Trent. Ref 1 & 5)
Implementation activities
Measures included selectively thinning the woodland, re-wetting areas that have dried out, and sowing native plants that will help filter pollutants. These activities involve the local community, school children specifically. (Ref 5)
Climate-focused activities
Climate change adaptation:
- Implement sustainable urban drainage infrastructure (e.g. to make space for water)
- Renaturalization of rivers and other water bodies
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity conservation:
- Protect and enhance urban habitats
- Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
- Preserve and strengthen habitat connectivity
- Protect species
- Undertake specific measures to protect species
- Undertake specific measures to protect native species
- Undertake specific measures to protect endangered species
- Means for conservation governance
- Public engagement
Biodiversity restoration:
- Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
- Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
- Restore native species
- Restore endangered species
- Public engagement
Main beneficiaries
- Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)
- Citizens or community groups
- Young people and children
Governance
Management set-up
- Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- National government
- Local government/municipality
- Non-government organisation/civil society
- Other
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
- Dissemination of information and education
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
Inspiring Water Action in the Torne is a Torne Catchment Partnership project led by the Environment Agency and involving Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, Natural England and local communities (Ref 1,5)
It is not specified what role the former three play, but citizens and community groups are rather involved by participating in and benefiting from the project rather than by having a leading role (e.g. Ref 7).
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is a local charity whose goals are nature recovery and wildlife protection combined with benefiting and inspiring local communities (Ref 9).
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
(The project claims to deliver in class improvements in Water Framework Directive status classification, but it is not specified if this has impacted the implementation of the project (Ref 5).)
... a national policy or strategy?
Yes
(Two out of the seven sites of the IWAIT project are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), one of which is Sandall Beat in Doncaster (Ref 5). The SSSI concept is specific to Great Britain and is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the UK. These are the basic building blocks of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature conservation designations in the UK are built opon them (Ref 8). Thus without explicit reference to any specific strategy or regulation, the IWAIT project addresses the building blocks that from the basis of these strategies and regulations. )
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
(The project builds on the work previously delivered by the River Torne Catchment Partnership. This partnership involves key river users are adjacent communities and uses a Catchment Based Approach to protect and improve the water environment. They are working to develop an Integrated Catchment Plan that enables projects like the IWAIT (Ref 5). )
Financing
Total cost
€100,000 - €500,000
Source(s) of funding
- Public national budget
- Public regional budget
- Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)
Type of funding
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
- Donations
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
- Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Water management and blue areas
- Improved water quality
- Increased protection against flooding
- Improved stormwater management
- Green space and habitat
- Increase in protected green space areas
- Increased protection of threatened species
Economic impacts
- Reduce financial cost for urban management
Socio-cultural impacts
- Safety
- Increased perception of safety
- Social justice and cohesion
- Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Education
- Increased support for education and scientific research
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
Yes
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No
References
Ref 1: Environment Agency. (2017). Restoring fifty hectares of rare and threatened habitats in Doncaster to benefit all. Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 2: Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council. (2014). The Doncaster Green Infrastructure Strategy 2014-2018: Creating a Greener, healthier and more attractive borough.
Ref 3: River Torne Catchment partnership. (2016). The plan for the Torne catchment.
Ref 4: South Yorkshire Green Infrastructure Strategy Delivery Programme
Ref 5: River Torne Catchment Partnership. (2016). Progressing our projects
Ref 6: Floodbriefing. (2017). Wet woodland restoration to protect 1,000 properties. Retrieved from Source link. [Not accessible due to privacy issues as of October, 2020]
Ref 7: Environment Agency. (2017). Doncaster teens take lead on environmental improvements. Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 8: Natural England. (2013). Sites of special scientific interest: Managing your land. Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 9: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. (nd.). River Torne Catchment Partnership. Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 10. Newborough, D. (no date) Case Study 26. Inspiring Water Action in the Torne (iWAIT). Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 11. McEwan, J. (2019) Progressing our projects. River Torne Catchment Partnership. Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 2: Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council. (2014). The Doncaster Green Infrastructure Strategy 2014-2018: Creating a Greener, healthier and more attractive borough.
Ref 3: River Torne Catchment partnership. (2016). The plan for the Torne catchment.
Ref 4: South Yorkshire Green Infrastructure Strategy Delivery Programme
Ref 5: River Torne Catchment Partnership. (2016). Progressing our projects
Ref 6: Floodbriefing. (2017). Wet woodland restoration to protect 1,000 properties. Retrieved from Source link. [Not accessible due to privacy issues as of October, 2020]
Ref 7: Environment Agency. (2017). Doncaster teens take lead on environmental improvements. Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 8: Natural England. (2013). Sites of special scientific interest: Managing your land. Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 9: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. (nd.). River Torne Catchment Partnership. Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 10. Newborough, D. (no date) Case Study 26. Inspiring Water Action in the Torne (iWAIT). Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.
Ref 11. McEwan, J. (2019) Progressing our projects. River Torne Catchment Partnership. Retrieved from Source link. Accessed on 18th October, 2020.