The Parish Council has been very busy since hearing in August it had been awarded funding for the St Erth Riverside Regeneration & Community Access Project through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The Westcountry Rivers Trust was appointed to undertake the green bank repairs to a number of sections of the river where the erosion was at its worst. There are other sections that still need work but owing to restrictions on how much work can be done to a riverbank without specialised permits the focus was on six specific areas. In addition, work has been undertaken to widen the path in a number of areas where the path was very narrow to try and keep as much foot traffic off the eroded sections and thereby give the green bank repairs a chance to provide the gradual bank reinforcement we are hoping for. It can be seen that in a number of areas there has been more erosion since the work was carried out and the green bank repairs are doing their thing by catching the earth in the brash and stopping it being washed away downstream. Since the original work was undertaken our amazing Volunteer River Wardens have recently been carrying out some topping up of the brash bundles.
The next stage of the riverbank work involves planting 50 tree whips of various types in various locations as the roots will help contribute to stabilising bank soil. The tree planting will be undertaken by volunteers in early December. If you would like to get involved in tree planting, general scrub mangem or as a River Warden, please contact clerk@sterth-pc.gov.uk.
The second part of the project involves the area of scrub behind Battery Mill Playpark. Previously used as a BMX track in the 1990s it had been left to become very overgrown. As this area sits within a County Wildlife Site, we have taken advice from Cornwall Wildlife Trust regarding appropriate scrub management and the aim to create a new amenity space for the community, whilst broadening and improving natural habitats, is well underway with a projected completion date of mid December.
Following a closed tender procurement process MH Groundworks were successful in their bid for all parts. Work commenced two weeks ago on opening out the area behind the skate ramp to enable the expansion of the play park and clearing a path through the scrubland and the woodland area and they are now in the middle of installing just over 200m of gravel path. In total, there will be approximately 400m of path including a woodland walk. Bat and bird boxes are still to be installed, along with benches and a bin, some new fencing and two new pedestrian gates.
This project is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Cornwall Council has been chosen by Government as Lead Authority for the fund and is responsible for monitoring the progress of projects funded through the UK shared Prosperity Fund in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
In addition, Forest for Cornwall is supporting this project by providing tree whips to plant on sections of the riverbank, along with tree protections, mulch mats and temporary fencing, and the Environment Agency has provided a grant to the Westcountry Rivers Trust through the Water Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF) to compliment this project and allow work to be carried out on an additional section of the riverbank that required a special permit and the installation of steps at two dog access points and over the embankment.
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