Ellis Meadows Wetlands
Leicester, England, United Kingdom
Building a multifunctional green space for people and wildlife. The River Soar runs through the center of the city of Leicester, located in England’s East Midlands; and a major flood event would cause serious economic losses to the city. To combat this threat, the Environment Agency in partnership with Leicester City Council converted a former school playing field into a wetland and wildflower park complete with cycleway and boardwalk and reconnected the River Soar with its floodplain. Consisting of grass and decommissioned allotments, the public rarely used the site before this project; and ecologically it contributed very little. Funded in 2013 and completed in 2016, the 7.4 hectares restored at Ellis Meadows formed the second phase of a larger natural flood management project for the city. Taking a blue-green infrastructure approach to managing flood risk through a combination of land lowering and reshaping, wetland creation, and vegetation management has reduced the flood risk for over 2000 homes and businesses in Leicester. When river levels are high, it provides space for waterlowering levels upstream within the city center. The natural flood management technique worked straight away: a flash flood filled the Ellis Meadows wetland, prevent ing costly flood damage and demonstrating the project’s success.
52
