Countryside Management Association News

Plans to create a massive wetland habitat near Huntingdon was recently given a further boost at the Inland Waterways Association's festival at St Ives.

Baroness Young, opened the festival and announced that the Middle Level Commissioners had become a formal partner of the Great Fen Project.

The project is seeking to link the Woodwalton Fen and Holme Fen nature reserves to create a super reserve covering more than 9,000 acres.

The scheme has been so successful that it has attracted Prince Charles as Royal Patron, Stephen Fry as president and former Prime Minister Sir John Major as a patron. The project is now running years ahead of schedule, has also just been awarded a record-breaking £8.9 million grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Middle Level Commissioners - who control the area's flood protection and water management system and manage navigable waterways in the area - become the fifth partner in the project, joining the Environment Agency, Huntingdonshire District Council, Natural England and the Wildlife Trust.

They have responsibility for the largest section of the Great Level of the Fens, created by drainage during the 17th Century, and are responsible for 120 miles of water courses and 170,000 acres of land, including the Great Fen Project area.

As a partner they will offer advice and expertise on water management in the project area and the potential for access to the reserve by water.

It will also enhance flood protection by increasing flood storage areas in the Great Fen