BritishFlora’s expertise in local provenance adds value to local by-pass

When Shropshire County Council commissioned the £14m Hodnet by-pass, the project included proposals for the creation of 4 ha. of new wetlands in the Tern Valley.

The wetland was to be built between the new road and the nearby River Tern with the key objectives of enhancing the environment and introducing technical solutions for:-

• Capturing all road runoff to prevent flooding via a double balancing pond system
• Settling out all sediment and oils

Specifically, the Council decreed that the horticultural solution should comprise a mix of wildflower, heathland and wetland species from seed collected within the vicinity to ensure local provenance.

After being selected for this work by Lowther Forestry, and working closely with Shropshire Wildlife Trust and the Environment Agency, BritishFlora collected:-

• Sufficient local provenance seed and plant material to supply over 40,000 wildflower, heathland and aquatic plants, with licences being obtained from English Nature to collect seed from Hodnet Heath, a SSSI.
• A further 72kg of local provenance seed for direct sowing on site, with permission kindly gained from the Hodnet Hall Estate to collect local provenance seed.

The constructed wetlands were planted with phragmites communis and other aquatics to improve water quality. The rapid spread of plant communities were aided by sowing the locally collected seed. Finally, and not least, the selection of all plant material was predicated on creating a vibrant wildlife environment for a wide range of fish, amphibians, insects and birds at Hodnet - a word of Celtic origin that means ‘peaceful valley’.

The completed project is considered by Shropshire County Council to be at the ‘cutting edge’ of environmental enhancements.