News

Severn Trent has completed the main phase of work to create a new wetland in Cinderford.

The water and waste company, along with contractors Mott Macdonald Bentley, has been working on a patch of land near its treatment works to benefit conditions in the Cinderford Brook and create a new habitat for local wildlife. 

This project has seen the company team up with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and is one of eleven sites where Severn Trent is using nature-based solutions to safeguard sustainable water levels for the future. 

The work contributes to Severn Trent’s Great Big Nature Boost scheme, which includes plans to plant 1.3m trees, revive 12,000 acres of land and help restore 2,000km of rivers across its region by 2027. Work ramped up in the summer, which included ecologists safely relocating Great Crested Newts away from the proposed wetland. Teams are due to return to the site in Spring to complete the project by carrying out planting activities.

Severn Trent is hosting a drop-in session on Wednesday 23 February at The Forest High School in Cinderford from 3:30pm, until 6:30pm, allowing local residents to ask questions and find out more about the project. 

Shannon Currall, Community Communications Officer at Severn Trent, said: “We’re really excited about this project and we are looking forward to talking about our work with local residents at the drop-in session.

“Whilst allowing us to naturally store water and support more natural flows without the need of more hard engineering, they also improve the habitat for local wildlife.

“We’ve made a number of commitments as part of our Great Big Nature Boost scheme, and projects like this show that we are taking these commitments seriously.”