The habitat improvements to the section of Battlefield Brook in Sanders Park is part of a wider National Environment Programme to help watercourses across the UK reach ‘good’ status in accordance with the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

Battlefield Brook has been selected due to the negative impact the existing concrete channel has on the local habitat. Whilst the area has one of only two known colonies of water voles in Worcestershire, the concrete channel acts as a barrier preventing voles from inhabiting the central section of the park.

The objective of the project is to remove this barrier by creating a meandering naturalised brook in place of the existing concrete channel, encouraging water voles and other wildlife to populate a greater area of the park and improving the natural beauty of the area for the public.