Flagship Chalk Stream Restoration Project

In 2022, the Lark was designated as Anglian Water’s ‘flagship’ chalk stream for East Anglia and planning began for a major restoration programme.

East Anglia's chalk streams are quite unlike those in the south of England. They are much more silty and slow moving. Techniques that have been used elsewhere in the country do not always work here.

Thanks, however, to an important piece of research, a Fluvial Audit from the University of Southampton, funded by the Environment Agency, and delivered in December 2025, and combined with local knowledge and experience, we have completely revised our understanding of what needs to be done.

Planning is now underway for the first two major projects:  

• restoration of the Lark and Cavenham streams near Icklingham, with the rewetting and conservation of a nationally significant store of peat 

• a holistic approach to the watery ‘beads on a string landscape’ to the south and east of Bury St Edmunds, including the medieval water meadows round the town. This will increase water storage in the landscape, reduce flood risk in winter, and keep the streams flowing for longer in summer.  

These are both extensive projects, designed to restore natural processes in long stretches of these rivers, trapping silt and improving flow, which will help improve the quality of the water, benefitting both people and wildlife.