Chance to discuss proposals for Haugh Head ford

Representatives from the Environment Agency and partners including the Tweed Forum and Natural England will be attending to answer questions. The scheme is part of the River Till restoration project, aims to stabilise the area around the ford and promote fish migration.

On completion the proposed scheme will open up 22km of watercourse for migratory fish such as salmon, sea trout, eel and lamprey.

Alastair Laverty, Environment Agency, geomorphology technical officer, said: “We hope this meeting will be an informal opportunity to bring people together from the immediate and wider community to enable us to update them about the current position of the Haugh Head ford project.

“There will be members of the team available to talk with the public about all aspects of the programme from planning through to development. Most importantly, we are there to reassure people that the proposals on the table have always been about benefiting the local community, wildlife and the surrounding habitats.

“Over the past few years we’ve considered numerous options for Haugh Head ford. It has been a very challenging problem to resolve and we believe that this current set of proposals are sustainable, they restore the Wooler Water through working with natural processes, they maintain and improve local access and they provide value for money.

“In that time we have consulted with a great number of local groups, organisations and businesses, and have two of the country’s leading environmental consultancies working on the project. This is to ensure we collate all of the necessary information to come up with the best solutions to satisfy the needs of local people and the surrounding environment.”

He added: “The culmination of the Haugh Head Ford project will finally remediate the damage, caused by historic gravel extraction, reconnect the River Tweed to its upper catchment, creating new and varied fluvial habitat, benefiting species such as otter, salmon, lamprey and seatrout.”

The drop-in event is on Wednesday, February 19 between 3.30pm and 7pm at The Tankerville Arms Hotel in Wooler.