Project is chance to ‘create a new future for once great river’

AN 18-month project to map and analyse the benefits of restoring nature along the River Trent has been launched.

- By JOSEPH RICHARDS

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust is one of eight trusts who, alongside RSA Insurance, will analyse the economic, environmental and societal benefits of restoring nature along England's longest river from source to sea.

At a time when flood, drought, polluted water and lack of access to nature are major threats, the Rivers 2040 project aims to seize the opportunity for change presented by the closure of power stations and gravel pits, changes in farming, and a postindustrial future for people living along the Trent.

The Rivers 2040 plan will be published next autumn, and go on to deliver the vision over the next 15 years.

While detailed proposals exist for individual river catchments, no blueprint has ever been created before to show how to improve a whole river system at this scale.