Major funding boost for chalk stream restoration

A £100,000 funding boost has been agreed to expand and accelerate work to restore Petty’s Brook, a chalk stream tributary of the River Loddon near Chineham.

The funding, provided by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to the South East Rivers Trust, will help transform the brook from a concrete channel into a more natural waterway with gently sloping banks and varied depths to support plants and wildlife. The trust already secured £200,000 through an Environment Agency enforcement undertaking following a 2022 pollution incident, enabling improvements to 300 metres of the brook. The council’s additional funding will bring forward plans to restore a further 250 metres, creating new habitats sooner.

Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency Cllr Chris Tomblin said the project demonstrates the council’s commitment to protecting local waterways under its Declaration on the Rights of Rivers, adopted earlier this year.

Work is expected to begin in summer 2027, supporting the borough’s wider climate and ecological goals.

Find out more about the council’s nature action at basingstoke.gov.uk/our-nature-action (basingstoke.gov.uk in Bing) and the South East Rivers Trust at SouthEastRiversTrust.org (southeastriverstrust.org in Bing).