A MAJOR improvement of the River Colne was launched yesterday.
Environmentalists hope that people will return to the riverbank – and that they might even see an otter or two.
Volunteers will clean the river and improve footpaths as part of the £90,000 Green Streams.
Jeff Keenlyside of the Environmental Alliance helped launch the programme at Aspley Marina yesterday.
He said: “People can sometimes be put off from going to the river because the entranceways are not attractive. We want to make the riverside a more attractive place where people feel safe.”
And Mr Keenlyside hopes cleaning the river itself will encourage wildlife to return to the Colne.
He said: “The water quality has improved dramatically which could bring salmon back. There are otters using the Calder upstream from Dewsbury and we think there are probably otters in the Colne as well.”
Green Streams is a partnership between Environmental Alliance, which is based on John William Street, and several other groups including the Rivers Trust, the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water.
As part of the programme, volunteers will teach pupils at the newly-built Hillside Primary School in Newsome about rivers.
Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman, who was at yesterday’s launch, said: “We need to educate the next generation about rivers and bio-diversity.”
Green Streams is funded by FMG, Britvic and Syngenta. The clean-up will focus on the stretch of river that runs between Aspley and Damside Road in Newsome.
