Turning back the tide of industry

A river reborn: Pioneering project to restore waterway to 17th- century glory

A two-kilometre stretch of the River Cole, near Swindon, in Wiltshire, has been restored to its 17th-century condition as part of a pilot project to show how water courses damaged by hundreds of years of industrialisation and intensive agriculture can be transformed.

Those who have contributed to returning the river to its natural state - including the National Rivers' Authority, the National Trust English Nature, and the Countryside Commission - hope it will be a showcase for what can be achieved on rivers across lowland England.

A similar scheme is being undertaken along the length of the River Skerne, Darlington, to show the improvements possible in an urban environment where industry has taken its toll.

Work on both projects is being carried out by the River Restoration Project (RRP), an organisation which brings together the various bodies involved in river management.

The RRP believes that subsidies under such schemes as "set-aside", where farmers are paid not to farm, could be better used to restore rivers and their natural flood plains. The benefits for conservation, recreation and economic use will be studied on the Cole.

The river runs from Swindon to Lechlade, where it joins the Thames. On the transformed stretch at the village of Coleshill, before work began, the Cole had become little more than a glorified ditch.

Surrounding flood meadows were drained to allow corn and, more recently, rape, to be grown. The stubble of last summer's crop can still be seen, but now the restoration work is complete, flooding will again take place across 120 acres of meadow. It is hoped that wildlife will flourish.

The engineering work completed last month, at a cost of pounds 1 million, means that the river is back in its meandering form, with its depth reduced to four or five feet, and fords, banks, bridges and sluice gates all in place.