20. River dipping

Aim: Involve people with their local waterbodies

Water body: River Misbourne

Project description

Creation of an access beach to enable school groups and visitors to continue to river dip whilst minimising erosion to the river bank elsewhere.

Hundreds of children use the River Misbourne next to the Colne Valley Park Visitor Centre for river dipping during the school holidays or on school visits during term time, this has led to erosion of the river bank. This project aims to create a large, formalised access beach so that local children can safely continue to enjoy the river. The river bank was re-graded to a uniform slope over a 20m length, a sub-base was laid down and then topped with 20mm rounded gravel. Excavated material was used to build up berms in the river channel and other informal access points to the river were blocked off using dead hedging.  

Project lead: Berks and Buck and Oxon Wildlife Trust

Project partners: Buckinghamshire County Council, Environment Agency, Groundwork South

Contact for more information: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Project start: Aug 2017

Project end: Mar 2018

Funding source: Environment Agency