Work begins to improve Catshill wildlife habitats (From Bromsgrove Advertiser)

Work begins to improve Catshill wildlife habitats

5:00pm Friday 15th March 2013 in News

WORK to improve and enhance wildlife habitats, helping to tackle the problem of declining water voles numbers, has begun in Catshill.

The project, which is expected to take a week, will see improvements made to the balancing ponds in Lingfield Walk, in the village.

After the work is completed the ponds should be able to hold more water, helping to alleviate flooding that has been a major issue for the village in the past, while also providing a better habitat for wildlife.

The week-long improvement work is the first to be carried out under the Bromsgrove Brooks Project. This is a multi-agency project made up of national and local government bodies, including Bromsgrove District Council, and companies and voluntary groups.

The scheme was given the go-ahead after it received £7,000 funding from the Environment Agency.

It is hoped that further funding will be secured to modify the sluice structures, which would further alleviate flooding and reduce the silt build-up in the pools.

Bromsgrove District Council’s tree and landscape officer, Andrew Bucklitch, said: “Water voles populations have declined by 90 per cent in the last 20 years and this once common mammal is now almost extinct in Worcestershire.

“Bromsgrove is home to the last remaining populations in the county and the improvements at Lingfield Walk are an important first step for the project.”