WESTBURY Town Council has joined forces with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, in order to clean up the areas around the River Biss in the town and help to protect wildlife species.
In August last year, volunteers and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust staff took to the Bitham Brook to rid the stream of dumped items and litter, in order to save the wildlife that habitate there. Now they are planning an ambitious project to improve the river for both wildlife and local residents
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s Sam Stork said, “Over the last year we’ve worked to survey the River Biss and other waterways through Westbury, to the confluence with the River Avon at Trowbridge.
“We’ve had a superb response from the local community and received a great level of input from residents and landowners regarding the issues they feel are threatening the river and what they would like to see improved.
“Our next stage is to work with Westbury Town Council to create a list of project ideas, ranging from smaller low cost projects such as litter picks and improving bankside management, to larger, more ambitious projects such as wetland creation, re-meandering the river or improving fish passage over weirs.
“This ‘shopping list’ of projects will be designed to improve the river for both wildlife and local residents.
“Some work may be achievable in the next 12 months and other projects may take years of fundraising and planning, but the important thing is we’ll have a guide from which to work and have projects ready to pull off the shelf should opportunities arise.
“The key message really is that to protect the river, we really need the help of local residents. Local information is incredibly helpful, for example wildlife sightings, where it regularly floods, areas where litter accumulates or if there are particular locations where runoff from roads or fields enters the river during heavy rain.
“We’ll also be calling for people to get their wellies on and come out and help, in addition to distributing information about signs of pollution and how people can report suspected incidents, so they can be investigated and tackled quickly.
“The initial funding was provided by the Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership. The work in Westbury is now being supported by WWT until we can raise additional funds for specific projects or equipment to support volunteer groups.”
