40. Cat Brook
Themes: Community engagement and participation; Promoting appropriate and sympathetic land management
Objectives:
- Improve local knowledge and understanding of the river and the issues facing it
- Improve existing wildlife corridors
- Increase the amount and quality of habitat
Project description
Another tributary into the River Lea, the Cat Brook is culverted for its early stretches and then runs alongside an open space, created on an area of raised land, before joining the Lea.
Where houses back onto the brook at its higher reaches there are issues with residents dumping material onto the banks and the catchment partners would like to run a programme of resident engagement to stop this happening.
Where the brook runs alongside the playing fields we are looking at bank regrading and marginal planting to recreate a more natural river form. Below the playing fields there is the opportunity to de-culvert a section of the brook.
At the confluence of Cat Brook and the Lea, work was been completed in the past to alleviate flooding and create a wetland area. The storms and heavy rain of early 2020 demonstrated that this work was successful but that some further restoration, bank and habitat work would be beneficial.
The catchment partners will be holding a site visit to scope out a deliverable project to further improve this area.
Project partners: Luton Borough Council, Environment Agency, Groundwork East
