The Wear Rivers Trust has successfully completed the first of many river enhancement projects in and around the River Wear.

The river conservation trust was awarded a grant to address a weir that was acting as a barrier to fish movement up the Cong Burn in Chester-le-Street.

"Removal of the weir was not possible, so we needed to look at designing an aesthetically pleasing structure that allowed fish passage up the Cong Burn" said project officer, Steve Hudson. After weeks of planning, investigations and negotiations, Eden Stoneworks were offered the contract to construct a natural looking fish easement, known as a rock ramp, which was constructed using 320 tonnes of locally sourced limestone. Five boulder weirs, which get smaller in size, effectively create a series of pools for fish to negotiate.

The improvements have now opened up over 25km of excellent fish habitat which will contribute to improving fish stocks both within the Cong Burn and the River Wear. The rock ramp has been designed to benefit all fish species that use the tributary to spawn, allowing the juvenile fish to develop until they are strong and ready to enter the River Wear.

The project was the first of its kind to be run by the relatively new organisation and was an opportunity to prove they had the capacity to deliver these types of projects. DEFRA have recently announced that over £110 million will be allocated to improving the UK’s rivers through the catchment restoration fund and after completing this project the trust will now bid for their share of this fund to carry out similar projects.

Steve Hudson explains “The tributary of the Wear is failing an important piece of European legislation called the Water Framework Directive, which requires all water bodies to be of good ecological status by 2015. The Cong Burn is rated as having poor ecological status due to low fish populations caused by a number of weirs and culverts cutting off access to important juvenile habitat".

Habitat improvements were carried out by Chester-le-Street District Angling Club last year, and to complete the jigsaw puzzle, the Wear Rivers Trust joined forces with the Environment Agency, Northumbrian Water, Chester-le-Street District Angling Club and Durham County Council to further enhance this important natural resource which is enjoyed by many thousands of people.

Durham County Council’s Riverside Park manager, Julie Lewcock, said: "We have always had a great interest in the wildlife which occurs around the park and it was great to be involved with such a beneficial project."

Paul Frear, from the Environment Agency, added: "A brilliant job, well done to the Wear Rivers Trust for carrying this out."

Northumbrian Water provided the rock ramp designs to enable the Trust to tender the project and Stuart Pudney, NWL's Conservation Team Leader said "we are fully supportive of the aims and objectives of the Wear Rivers Trust and, as well as hosting the Project Officer at our regional headquarters, were pleased to offer our expertise in helping the Trust to find the right solution to enable fish to access spawning grounds in the upper reaches of the Cong Burn"

As well as developing their own projects, the Wear Rivers Trust has also been working with Northumbrian Water, to help highlight erosion and fish obstruction issues at one of the water company’s catch water structures, located along the Ireshope Burn in Weardale. Northumbrian Water were quick to come up with a solution that not only repaired the eroded bank-sides, but also provided improved access for fish migration to spawning grounds in the upper reaches of the burn. Locally sourced rock was used to replace gabion baskets and a rock ramp structure similar to that used on the Cong Burn project was installed to enable easier fish movements upstream.

Contact: Steve Hudson, WRT Project Officer, 0191 3016931, steve.hudson@wear-rivers-trust.org.uk