Salisbury River Park scheme: What it is

The Environment Agency is working closely with Wiltshire Council and Salisbury City Council on the £23million project.

Work will be carried out at Fisherton Recreation Ground, Ashley Road Open Space, Central Car Parking and land at the Maltings as part of the scheme. 

A presentation was given to Salisbury City Council to provide updates on the scheme, which aims to reduce the risk of flooding for around 250 homes and improve biodiversity and green space across Salisbury.

Ashley Road Open Space and Fisherton Recreation Area

A new embankment and flood wall is planned along with the creation of a new wetland where a new channel through Fisherton Recreation Ground will pass through.

There will be a new footbridge over the new channel and boardwalks which will connect with existing paths. Footpaths will also be improved. 

Viewing platforms and seating would also be added.

Proposed landscaping at Fisherton Recreation Ground 

Andy Wallis, of the Environment Agency, said: "We are introducing lines of trees along Ashley Road and the river there."

Lines of tulip trees will be planted with cherry trees along the river and footpaths will also be improved as will the current boardwalk which would be extended.

"We're not just planting saplings around there, we're planting some really significant trees - four five metre high trees going in. A mixture of things," explained Mr Wallis. 

All the trees planted in the area would be native to the area - aspens, oak trees and a cherry tree - along with smaller scale planting and areas of wildflower meadows.

Ashley Road Open Space landscaping

In the recreation ground a line of ash trees had to be felled due to ash dieback which would be replaced with a line of hornbeams.

As part of the River Park project the current play area in the Ashley Road Open Space will have to be removed and relocated.

A public consultation on the play area is currently being carried out.

Central Car Park and Maltings

The meeting heard the plan was to develop a small "pocket park" area where people could gather and picnic to the north of the existing coach park on the site of the existing Millstream car park.

Down through the Central Car Park area a green park will be created and the river corridor widened which will see "a whole variety" of trees and shrubs planted including cherry and maple trees.

A key part of the scheme will see the sluice gate taken out which was a "barrier" to fish and will be replaced with rock weirs.

The weirs would allow salmon to get through and continue their journey up stream.

Also a new footbridge would be put in at the bottom end of the coach park.

Improvements will also be made to existing footpaths and cycle paths with new lighting. 

More seating would be added near the Maltings area.

The level of the coach park will also be raised to help reduce flood risk.

Why trees had to be cut down

The meeting heard that in preparation for the main works a number of trees had to be cut down which had to be done before nesting season to avoid any construction delays.

Mr Wallis said: "There was no way of getting what we need to achieve with the scheme with some of the trees that are there. Also a lot of this area, especially down through Central Car Park area, a lot of the trees are self seeded and quite damaging for this area and do not help the river island habitat."

The willow trees, he explained, have a "smothering effect" on certain trees and also impacted on water vole habitats.

More than six times as many trees will be planted.

In the five years after the works have been completed the Environment Agency will be responsible for the trees and if any do fail they would be replaced.

However after this the maintenance would be passed on to the city council. A section 106 agreement had been agreed making money available to cover the maintenance for the next 50 years.

Water voles

Due to their protected species status the water voles are being trapped by a specialist team under licence from Natural England, and being taken to a new habitat near Ringwood.

Once the area is clear of the water voles their burrows will be destroyed to stop them returning.

However, before this is done endoscopes will be used to check the burrows for any signs of water voles.

Timetable

The main works are due to start at the end of May or June.

There were constraints on when work could be carried out on the river corridor due to fish migration season, which can't be done before July 1.

Most of the work will be carried out over the summer and autumn but will be scaled back over the winter resuming again the following summer.

It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023 or start of 2024.

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