Breaking Ground at Lyneham – A Milestone for Evenlode Landscape Recovery

An important milestone for Evenlode Landscape Recovery (ELR), as the first natural flood management groundwork gets underway at Priory Farm in Lyneham, marking the project's move from planning into practical delivery on the ground.

Part of wider flood mitigation efforts for Lyneham village, the work involves creating new wetland areas designed to hold water on the land for longer, slow its flow into local watercourses and help reduce flood risk for the village and communities downstream.

Creating wetlands to slow the flow

Over the course of ten days, excavators have been creating wetland scrapes and bunds that will help temporarily store water during periods of heavy rainfall, slowing its movement through the catchment.

Alongside these natural flood management (NFM) benefits, the work will create valuable new wetland habitat, supporting biodiversity, strengthening habitat connections and contributing to the wider climate resilience of the Evenlode landscape.

The work is taking place at Priory Farm, home to farmer and North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster Director Matty Izod, who has played an instrumental role in shaping Evenlode Landscape Recovery from the outset.

As Matty explains, "It's exciting to get going with our first project within Landscape Recovery, creating a wetland to help reduce the flood

risk for local people in Lyneham and connect a new habitat with the Evenlode catchment.

This is just the beginning, and I'm really looking forward to future work within our farming landscape."

From planning to practical delivery

As one of the UK's largest farmer-led nature recovery programmes, Evenlode Landscape Recovery brings together more than 50 farms across approximately 3,000 hectares, working to restore rivers, floodplains and connected habitats while maintaining productive farming.

The groundwork at Lyneham marks an important first step in delivering these ambitions.

Elsewhere across the project area, further activity is progressing, including grassland seeding, fencing, ditch work and tree management. Design work is also underway to support the next stages of delivery, alongside plans for further tree planting.

Together, these activities mark the beginning of visible changes across the landscape, as farmers and project partners work to improve water management, restore habitats and build long-term resilience across the Evenlode catchment.

Follow the Evenlode Landscape Recovery journey

If you would like to follow the story of ELR we now have a dedicated Substack page. Sign up to find out more and learn how the project is progressing: Substack - Evenlode Landscape Recovery