Spains Hall Estate is one of the first places in England to reintroduce the Eurasian Beaver, which went extinct in Britain in the 16th century. The aim of the project is to explore the beavers’ capacity to provide natural flood management alongside other man-made natural flood management measures.
Partners of the project include the Environment Agency, the Essex Wildlife Trust, Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust, Essex County Council, Anglian Water and Suffolk Water.
Initially the project was funded by the Environment Agency, Coca-Cola (through its Replenish Fund, accessed via the Rivers Trust movement), Regional Flood and Coastal Committee and Spains Hall Estate, but the most recent phase has brought in Anglian Water, Essex County Council and Essex and Suffolk Water.
All funding to date has been capital rather than revenue, but this case study has been included as an example of positive community engagement with a nature-based project.