Living by the Leen in Bobbersmill

My house sits right besides the river Leen in Bobbersmill.

I've lived here since my house was built in 2001.

To this date (touch wood) the river has never flooded at my location though we've had numerous flood alerts over the years.

I love being so close to the city centre yet being able toenjoy seeing the various birds/insects supported by the river.

My home is behind what used to be the old Cussons Soap factory.

It has long since been demolished and a a number of trees and bushes had started to grow and the bird population significantly increased but the council advised the land handler that they needed to be taken down.

A large line of 40ft conifers were removed. Starting at the Robin HHood railway line they ran at the back of our houses and met and bordered a large part of the Leen.

Since they have been taken down and the trees and bushes etc removed from the site, the number of birds and insects have decreased dramatically.

We would love to see the land bought and used to reintroduce bio diversity to the area whilst possibly making room for any potential overflow of the river should it rise to high levels.

We also have Wades pond in the middle of our estate that has a none working sluice into the river. This presents a great opportunity for clean up and replanting of plant species.

Trees also used to run down the banks of the Leen bordering the industrial estate in front of us but due to age and disease they were cut down just leaving exposed grassy banks.

This area could be so much more than it is now and recent works have removed the bio diversity instead of increasing it.

D. Oldham

Meadow Brown Road