Actions speak louder than words............

Good Afternoon,

After my meeting last week I thought I would give you an update on the current happenings on site. By now you will have

seen the cranes (they are big enough) which believe it or not are lifting skips of material in and out of two huge 10m shafts! The two shafts

have been dug to enable future underground drilling. The site and it's surroundings are so neat and tidy, this is solely testiment to the team there.

Have a look at the aerial photo which taken on Monday, it really does demonstrate the care taken by them.

Good Morning Steven,

Thank you for taking the time to write to us. After checking with our Site Manager and the Project Manager, the removal of the Blunts Beck pipe isn't in our current programme of works. Although that said your blog has sparked some investigations!!  I will keep you updated with the progress on it all Steven. Thanks again.

Good Afternoon

Just thought I'd touch base to let you know the progress on site.

Firstly I've been asked by the Site Team to thank you for the lovely cakes they had the pleasure of "scoffing" last Friday, they went down a treat apparently.

Secondly thank you to Natural England who allowed us to use their land whilst our compound was assembled, it is much appreciated.

Thought I should let you know 13th & 14th October you will notice some noise, we are taking delivery of some rather large machinery so we can commence the underground work.

Again, thank you for your patience and if you need to discuss anythng please don't hesitate to contact me to the team.

Good morning everyone,

I'm Mark Morris and I'm a Conservation Advisor for Northumbrian Water. I wanted to give you an update on the work that's been involved in the planning of this project from an ecological point of view.

Castle Eden is the largest area of semi-natural woodland in north-east England and home to an amazing variety of plants and animals. Prior to work starting on site, we have had several ecological surveys completed by trained, experienced ecologists to help identify protected species, invasive species and also locate the areas within our working area which contribute to making the dene such an ecologically important place. The most important areas, which include stands of yew tree and also some more botanically interesting areas will be protected whilst we are working on site.

In addition to vegetation surveys, we have also checked for signs of badger, bats, watervole and otter to make sure we will be keeping clear of any important species, and working around them where possible. The detailed information we have gathered has helped us to gain assent from Natural England for these important works and we will be working with them throughout the duration of the project.

If you have any queries about conservation in the area please feel free to comment on this post or email me at mark.morris@nwl.co.uk.

Good Afternoon Everyone,

My name is Joan Tatters and I am the Community Liaison Manager for Mott MacDonald Bentley and I am part of the dedicated team who will be working with Northumbrian Water during this essential work in the Dene.

My colleagues and I had the opportunity to meet some of you during our Customer Event on Monday 22nd August in the Natural England Offices at Castle Eden, it was really informative.Together we were able to discuss concerns and ideas you had about the project and to say we were overwhelmed with the attendance was an understantement, approximately 40 of you came along to see us that afternoon!

I do hope you are now more informed and have a greater understanding about the project and why we need to do this work. We are very concerned about the woodland as are Northumbrian Water and from your conversations you are too. We have now listened to your ideas and taken on board as many of them as we can, so a huge THANK YOU for our time, effort and support we really appreciate it.

The work will commence Monday 12th as planned and I know the first four weeks maybe a little noisy while we fell some of the trees however we will make every effort during that time to minimise the disruption the best way we can.

You will see me and our MMB guys around for the next 40 weeks, so for those of you we have already met please come and say hello again and those we haven't please feel free to come and introduce yoursel and if you have any questions you want answering please just ask. You can contact us either via the portal of use our email address MMBcustomerservices@jnbentley.co.uk or just give me a call on  0191 3786700.

As the work progresses I will keep you informed as much as I can so..........."Watch this space"

Hi everyone, my name is Sean Barry and I am the Project Manager for the work we are planning to undertake in Castle Eden Dene. Our partners, Mott MacDonald Bentley, will be carrying out the work which is due to begin on 12 September 2016 and will take a minimum of 40 weeks to complete. 

I grew up in the area and  I know how important the conservation of the site is to residents and visitors, so while this is a delicate project, it will be handled with care and we are working in partnership with Natural England. We will do what is necessary to protect and retain existing native woodland, to help it form an integral part of the more diverse natural environment.

The work will necessitate the removal of trees including non-native conifers that were planted in the reserve in the 1970s. The work is planned to maximise benefits for wildlife, including songbird species such as long tailed tit and chiff chaff and invertebrates such as the rare dingy skipper by reshaping the natural environment.

We will post updates throughout the work and if you have any queries or want to make us aware of any additional assistance you require from us during this work then please use the ‘Contact us’ button at the top of this page or post on this feed.