Member Article

Northumbrian Water contribution boosts County Durham wetlands project

The development of a community wetlands at Langley Park in County Durham has been boosted thanks to work by Northumbrian Water and Seymour Civil Engineering.

Both firms teamed up to help local volunteer Ian Dowson, who has masterminded the new wetland area, create a pond at the site which formerly housed allotments.

The north east water company heard about Ian’s efforts whilst carrying out essential maintenance work in the Langley Park village, and decided to team up with Ian to help supply lining for the new pond.

Through the utilities giant’s volunteering programme, volunteers from Northumbrian Water dig up the site and installed the liner for the new pond which, once completed, will be utilised as a community and educational resource.

Ian hopes the new wetland will attract both wildlife and visitors to the wetlands area, and said that the development had already attracted interested visitors in the triple digits.

He said: “Without the support of Northumbrian Water and Seymour Civil Engineering, we wouldn’t get to create this pond, which would have been a huge shame, because the site is developing well and we are attracting visits from local schools and other groups, such as brownies.

“We’re already supported by Natural England and the whole community is behind the project, which has seen visitor numbers of up to 530 visitors in a single day, so it is great that we are able to expand what we are doing with the support of companies such as this.”

Phil Foster, a technical support advisor at Northumbrian Water, added: “We got to know Mr Dowson during our recent work in the area and learned about the development of the wetlands.

“It seemed a great opportunity to say thank you to our customers in the area for their patience during the work.”