Project Story
The River Trent Restoration project was an ambitious project which aimed to bring nature back to a stretch of river running through the University campus.
The project saw a 400m section of the River Trent, which flowed through an artificially-engineered straight channel in the nature reserve area of the campus, re-naturalised to follow a more natural path through the construction of new, gently meandering route.
The lack of a natural substrate on the river bottom and the reinforced riverbank previously offered limited habitat for wildlife. The new channel which has been created includes series of meanders, gently sloping riverbanks and importantly, the addition of gravel, which could provide spawning sites for brown trout.
The scheme was delivered by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust with support from the Wild Trout Trust and the Environment Agency, as a component of the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) SUNRISE Project, which is led by Stoke-on-Trent City Council. SUNRISE is a major urban conservation initiative primarily funded by the ERDF, which is focusing on restoring and improving natural habitats at 16 sites around Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme.