River Frome Floodplain Corridor
The catchment of the River Frome is a priority area for natural flood management (NFM). Therefore, reconnecting the river to its floodplain (where feasible and/or creation of riparian habitat, are relevant priorities for their ability to provide NFM, benefit wildlife, and improve water quality in the river.
The River Frome and tributaries are highly modified along much of their course. Therefore, the most realistic in-river measures to improve its ecology are likely to involve removing (where feasible) or easing passage on in-river barriers such as weirs, and introducing greater habitat diversity in the channel.
Given the river’s proximity to communities in North Bristol and Yate/Chipping Sodbury, measures to improve the river’s ecology should go alongside improving access to the river for local communities. This would help create a ‘green and blue’ corridor for people and nature.
The possibility of creating a nature reserve alongside the River Frome is being explored, which would be valuable both for wildlife and to provide a space for local communities to engage with nature.
Priorities for nature recovery
Delivering the priorities for nature recovery is particularly important in the mapped Focus Areas for Nature Recovery. ‘Landscape recovery’ measures, which will have the biggest impact on nature recovery, are particularly relevant in these Focus Areas.
| Measures | Most relevant to | Land type | Indicative level of land-use impact for nature |
| Remove Himalayan Balsam from riverbanks, starting at the top of rivers and working downstream* | Farmers and landowners Communities |
River | N/A |
| Measures | Most relevant to | Land type | Indicative level of land-use impact for nature |
| Manage existing wetland habitats to maintain/improve their value to wildlife. Management techniques will depend on the type of wetland habitat present | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Landscape recovery |
More rivers and streams have natural courses and profiles, enable free passage of fish, and have more diverse in-river habitat, including spawning habitat in headwater streams.
| Measures | Most relevant to | Land type | Indicative level of land-use impact for nature |
| Re-naturalisation of rivers to their original form or reprofiling of the river to create a more ‘natural’ profile. This could include restoring meanders, removing or setting back flood banks, and/or reconnecting old side channels. | Farmers and landowners | River | Landscape recovery |
| Introduce habitat features such as berms and flow deflectors in rivers to create more habitat diversity. This is particularly useful in river channels that are relatively uniform or highly managed | Farmers and landowners | River | N/A |
| Install natural structures such as leaky dams and let fallen trees in rivers remain in-situ (where appropriate and where the flood risk has been properly assessed) | Farmers and landowners | River | N/A |
| Restore headwater streams to enhance spawning habitat such as river gravels for salmonids, and instream water weeds and substrates for coarse fish egg laying | Farmers and landowners | River | N/A |
| Remove barriers to fish passage, including weirs and culverts, where this is possible, and the retrofitting of structures to include fish passes and mammal ledges where removal is not possible | Local government Farmers and landowners |
River | N/A |
The role of rivers and streams as ecological corridors through the landscape is enhanced, with diverse riparian habitat that benefits a range of species, stabilises banks, captures nutrients, regulates water temperature and provides vital shade during warm weather.
| Measures | Most relevant to | Land type | Indicative level of land-use impact for nature |
| Create and manage riparian buffer strips (of 5-50m, depending on the size of the watercourse, with larger buffers providing greater benefits) of vegetation including trees alongside rivers and streams. This will improve river ecology, create natural corridors, reduce pollution reaching rivers, and provide natural flood management | Farmers and landowners | River | Landscape recovery |
| Manage riparian vegetation to ensure a mosaic of light levels along the river, aiming for a 60/40 ratio of light to shade, and a dense understory to enhance the slow of runoff and increase infiltration rates | Farmers and landowners | River | Landscape recovery |
| Coppice bankside trees to increase their longevity and health | Farmers and landowners | River | Environmental stewardship |
| Active management of poaching by cattle along rivers, which would also help to reduce nutrient load into rivers. This may be achieved through the installation of fencing where it is appropriate and compatible with flood risk maintenance activities. | Farmers and landowners | River | Sustainable farming |
There are more waterbodies that are in good ecological status and support thriving populations of fish and other freshwater wildlife.
| Measures | Most relevant to | Land type | Indicative level of land-use impact for nature |
| Create a sediment pond or trap to provide an area where muddy run-off from fields or tracks is allowed to pond, so that sediment will settle out before entering watercourses | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable farming |
| Reduce run-off of pollutants from farmland through the use of best practice in applying fertiliser, manure and slurry | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable farming |
| Establish a buffer strip (which can contain long grasses, trees, and shrubs) of 4-12m on field boundaries or runoff channels. This can reduce nutrient and pollutant runoff into watercourses and provide habitat for wildlife | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable farming |
| Improve management of manure and slurry to reduce pollution (e.g. roofing manure storage or manure storage pads) | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable farming |
| Reduce the frequency of continuous and intermittent point source pollution from sewage discharges | Businesses | N/A | N/A |
| Reduce the quantity of pollutants entering the freshwater environment from wastewater treatment works | Businesses | N/A | N/A |
| Use constructed wetlands in wastewater treatment to reduce the amount of pollutants entering the freshwater environment, while providing wetland habitat | Businesses | N/A | N/A |
More rivers are reconnected to their floodplains and floodplain wetlands are created to allow natural erosion and silt deposition within the floodplain, especially where this would provide benefits to flood management.
| Measures | Most relevant to | Land type | Indicative level of land-use impact for nature |
| Reconnection of rivers to their floodplain, allowing floodwater to spill naturally onto adjacent land, and restoration of wetland habitat within the floodplain | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Landscape recovery |
| Create or improve management of floodplain grazing marsh or floodplain meadows, including permitting seasonal flooding | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Landscape recovery |
Nature-based solutions are used to slow the flow of water and increase water storage in the landscape, thereby reducing the risk of flooding, and mitigating the impacts of drought and water scarcity
| Measures | Most relevant to | Land type | Indicative level of land-use impact for nature |
| Cross-slope planting of trees and hedgerows to intercept flows of water, providing natural flood management and capturing pollutant run-off | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Environmental stewardship |
| Create in-field wetland scrapes (shallow ponds that hold rain or flood water seasonally but stay damp for most of the year) and swales (shallow, linear, vegetated drainage features) to store and slow the flow of water, providing natural flood management | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Environmental stewardship |
| Create offline and/or online ponds in the floodplain. Offline ponds are not connected to the watercourse, and can capture overland runoff. Online ponds are connected to the watercourse through a stream channel, storing floodwater temporarily and releasing it into the watercourse in a controlled manner. | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Environmental stewardship |
| Measures | Most relevant to | Land type | Indicative level of land-use impact for nature |
| Protect beavers from recreational disturbance and persecution, while managing conflict with other land uses where it arises | Farmers and landowners | N/A | N/A |
| Protect crops from beaver activity by using fencing that prevents beavers accessing the land to forage | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable farming |
| Make a natural space of 20 metres or more for beavers alongside the river edge, planting native species such as willow and aspen. This will reduce the likelihood of beavers foraging elsewhere on your land | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Landscape recovery |
There is more sustainable and regenerative agriculture that minimises the use of potentially harmful inputs including pesticides and artificial fertilisers, and regenerates the health and carbon stock of soils.
| Measures | Most relevant to | Land type | Indicative level of land-use impact for nature |
| Use sustainable soil management techniques, including undersowing of crops, reduced or no tillage, reducing compaction etc. | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable Farming |
| Establish a multi-species winter cover crop to protect soil from erosion and compaction, and improve soil biology | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable Farming |
| Reduce the use of pesticides through integrated pest management, including use of companion crops; and leave areas unsprayed to support arable wildflowers | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable Farming |
| Use precision farming techniques to reduce the use of pesticides | Farmers and landowners Communities |
Countryside | Sustainable Farming |
| Reduce or eliminate the application of fertiliser or manure on grassland, including through the use of precision farming techniques | Farmers and landowners Local Government |
Countryside | Sustainable Farming |
| Provide a more species-rich herbal ley for grazing livestock in place of an intensive perennial rye grass sward | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable Farming |
| Reduce the use of antibiotics and worming products in livestock, to improve the value of their dung to wildlife | Farmers and landowners | Countryside | Sustainable Farming |
Relevant priority species
- Atlantic Salmon
- Brown/Sea Trout
- Eel
- European Beaver