Doncaster, United Kingdom
City population: 303375
Duration: unknown – 2006
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Project area: 750000 m2
Type of area: Agricultural area or farmland
Last updated: June 2024

The £1 million project aimed to transform the area from arable land to a high-quality wetland by creating a number of interconnected reed beds and water bodies. The project recreates part of the old wetland landscape that used to exist on the edge of Doncaster 200 years ago before it was drained for other uses. A major benefit of expanding the wetland will be to provide better quality water for local communities and reduce the impact of flooding in the area. The project is a collaboration among WWF, HSBC, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the European Union. (Ref 1)

Potteric Carr Wetland Extension
WWF
http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/potteric_carr_2006.pdf

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Blue infrastructure
  • In-land wetlands, peatlands, swamps, and moors
  • Parks and urban forests
  • Large urban parks or forests

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Habitat and biodiversity conservation
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Water management (SDG 6)
  • Flood protection
  • Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
  • Improvements to water quality

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas

Project objectives

1. To expand the good quality wetland of Potteric Carr Nature Reserve and thereby improve the water quality for local communities and reduce the impact of flooding in the area; 2. Show that natural methods are an effective way of managing floodwaters and reducing pollution, as well as being a great place for visitors and thereby benefit the local economy; 3. Demonstrate how wetlands provide many benefits for people and nature; 4. Provide educational opportunities and attract wildlife in the future; 5. Provide a suitable breeding habitat for rare birds (Ref 2 & 4)

Implementation activities

Expand the good quality wetland by transforming former farmland into a series of lagoons that will hold reed beds and pools. New meadows will also be created in the process (Ref 1)

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Restore wetlands and/or coastal ecosystems to dissipate the effects of flooding and/or storms

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

  • Protect and enhance urban habitats
  • Create new habitats
  • Preserve and strengthen habitat connectivity
  • Protect species
  • Undertake specific measures to protect species
  • Undertake specific measures to protect native species

Main beneficiaries

  • Local government/Municipality
  • Private sector/Corporate/Company
  • Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Non-government organisation/civil society

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The partnership between Yorkshire Wildlife Trust with WWF was essential to enable the purchase and restoration of the additional 75 hectares of land, building the resource for local people and wildlife.” Thus WWF was the financial driver and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust had a more executive role. Nearly half the money for the project has been donated by WWF through their Investing in Nature partnership with HSBC. The rest of the funds for the project have been secured by YWT mostly from the European Union. (Ref 1).

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Yes (All the aimed-for benefits are claimed to be among the aims of new European Union legislation, the Water Framework Directive, which requires governments to improve water management for people and wildlife by 2015. The project is claimed to help achieve the "new EU legislation -the Water Framework Directive" (Ref 2) )
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

€500,000 - €2,000,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Public national budget
  • Corporate investment
  • Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)
  • EU funds

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?
  • Private sector (businesses, financial institution)
  • Other

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Strengthened capacity to address climate hazards/natural disasters
  • Water management and blue areas
  • Improved water quality
  • Increased protection against flooding
  • Improved stormwater management
  • Enhanced protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Increase in protected green space areas
  • Increased number of protection areas
  • Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
  • Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
  • Reduced biodiversity loss
  • Increased number of species present
  • Increased protection of threatened species

Economic impacts

  • Increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)
  • More sustainable tourism
  • Attraction of business and investment

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Improved access to urban green space
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
  • Education
  • Increased support for education and scientific research

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: WWF (2003). 1 million partnership to restore wetlands. Retrieved from Source link on 22nd October, 2020.
Ref 2: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. (nd.). Potteric Carr Nature Reserve. Retrieved from Source link on 22nd October, 2020.
Ref 3: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. (nd.). Current recording schemes. Retrieved from Source link on 22nd October, 2020.
Ref 4: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. (nd.). Wetlands. Retrieved from Source link on 22nd October, 2020.
Ref 5: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. (nd.). Tackling flooding in urban areas. Retrieved from Source link on 22nd October, 2020.
Ref 6: WWF (2006). UK NATURAL RIVERS POTTERIC CARR WETLAND EXTENSION. Retrieved from Source link on 22nd October, 2020.
Ref 7: UK flooding: How a Yorkshire town worked with nature to stay dry. Retrieved from Source link on 22nd October, 2020.
Ref 8: Carroll, D. (nd.). Potteric Carr Highflyers. Ref 9: Natural England. (2013). Higher level stewardship: Environmental stewardship handbook. (4th edition).
Ref 9.




These two references did not contain information that I have used, but merely mention the wetland extension of the Potteric Carr in the context of NBS.
Rotherham I.D. (2011) Implications of Landscape History and Cultural Severance for Restoration in England. In: Egan D., Hjerpe E.E., Abrams J. (eds) Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration. Society for Ecological Restoration. Washington, DC: Island Press. p. 277-287
Rotherham, I.D., Spode, F., & Fraser, D. (2003). Post coal-mining landscapes: An under-appreciated resource for wildlife, people and heritage. In: H.M. Moore, H.R. Fox, S. Elliott (eds) Land reclamation -extending the boundaries. Lisse: A.A. Balkema Publishers, 93-99