Embleton Road Rain Gardens
The site is located in the Northern suburbs of Bristol on Embleton road, Southmead near a primary school. The river Trym rises in Southmead and flows southwest through Badock’s Wood.
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To reduce the flood risk, calm traffic and increase community involvement and awareness of sustainable urban drainage systems. To improve water quality in the River Trym.
The Bristol Surface Water Management Plan identified Southmead as an area that has surface water flooding problems and poor water quality in the river Trym.
Sustrans worked with Bristol City Council and ran a number of workshops to engage school pupils and the local community about...
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Potential impacts/ benefits |
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Challenges addressed |
Enhancing sustainable urbanisation |
Restoring ecosystems and their functions |
Developing climate change mitigation |
Developing climate change adaptation |
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Water Management |
· Improve water quality |
· Increase quality and quantity of green and blue infrastructure |
· Reduce flood risk |
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Green Space management and enhancing urban biodiversity |
· Increase amount of green space for residents · Changing image of the urban environment |
· Increased cultural richness and biodiversity |
· Reduce run off · Increase infiltration |
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Participatory planning and governance |
· Increase communities sense of ownership · Increase social interaction · Social learning about location and importance of NbS |
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Can be used on most streets suffering from road runoff and flooding or in need of traffic control measures.
Community engagement and design in projects can increase communities sense of ownership and young people are keen to get involved in these projects.
Rain gardens should not be planted directly under trees as leaf build up can be a maintenance issue. Openings should be as wide as possible.
An evaluation package should be created for these projects with regular monitoring to determine the impacts on water quality and flood risk.
The project cost £63,400 and was funded by Bristol Green Capital and Bristol City Council.
