Plenty to celebrate in 2025, but the bridge still looms

The restored east marsh canal

It has been a good year since the dam repairs were completed last winter and the reservoir refilled, but the unresolved Silk Stream Bridge project still threatens both the full restoration of the north marsh and the pockets of local residents.

The protected marshes remain the focal point for habitat improvements. Twelve new breeding rafts for visiting common terns have been installed off the east marsh with funds raised by CRT and local volunteers. These have replaced the crumbling 40-year old rafts that were no longer providing suitable nest sites, evidenced by the drop in breeding pairs from a high of forty-four two decades ago to low to single figures. Early signs are good with the birds taking to the new rafts which afford more protection from predators. Four pairs have subsequently bred this year with eight chicks fledged.

Winter reed and tree management, and the dredging and re-opening of the short east marsh canal (see pic) also took place in March 2025, which has improved sight lines for data surveys and opened up breeding habitat.

Perhaps most importantly, a new restoration fund for the whole of the east marsh is finally in the works. As we have been predicting for some time, samples taken by Canal and River Trust (CRT) from the mouth of the River Brent last winter have provided a clear link between urban runoff from the nearby M1 and hydrocarbon contamination of the marsh. Over several decades this pollution has badly degraded habitat quality and reduced aquatic food stocks, impacting wildlife numbers and threatening the reservoir’s SSSI status.

CRT are now actively using the findings as leverage with National Highways for a major reparations fund to bring the east marsh back to better health. This would involve both polluted silt removal and reshaping overgrown shoreline habitat and margins. If the project gets the green light, it would be transformative for the SSSI. We are currently optimistic about the outcome.

At the north end of the site, the north marsh will benefit from a partial restoration over the coming winter of 2025/2026. Following a Cool Oak proposal, CRT have drawn up plans, raised third-party funding and made use of existing S106 money from Barratt PLC’s Hendon Waterside development to open up approx one hectare of neglected and silted-up canals, remove large areas of colonised willow and enhance reed beds and scrub on the western side of the marsh. Footpaths will also be upgraded in the area and new bird hide created.

In stark contrast however, two and a half hectares of the north marsh remain blighted by the prospect of Barratt’s 200m footbridge that is due to pass through it. Conceived over ten years ago as a ‘treetop walk’ through a compulsorily-purchased corridor of the SSSI in order to link the new waterside housing development with the playing fields, the as-yet-unbuilt bridge (privately funded but for public use) is now facing a very different reality.

The council’s £18m redevelopment of West Hendon playing fields - the bridge’s primary destination - has been severely cut back due to lack of money, and plans for a new primary school, which would have provided regular users of the bridge, have also been abandoned. The ‘treetop’ design is unlikely to be realised as many trees will have to felled due to inherent instability in the soft ground, while invasive plants have taken a grim hold of the woodland below to the point where eradication may now be impossible .

Local residents rightly now fear the bridge will be a largely unused eyesore, leaving it unsafe after dark and open to antisocial misuse, while the burden of its sizeable private upkeep will fall on their shoulders via increased service charges.

The incumbent Barnet Labour administration at the council, having opposed the bridge in opposition, have now U-turned and decided not to stand in its way. They have the statutory powers to relieve Barratt of their need to build it, but so far show no sign of using them.

It is true to say Natural England can still insist on certain ecological mitigation measures before Barratt put a spade in the ground, but they are likely to be narrow in scope and will not be commensurate with the damage caused. It remains very difficult to see the argument for the bridge’s construction, while the unnecessary destruction of protected habitat it will bring about and the likely burden it will place on local residents remain very clear.

We applaud the commitment from owners and volunteers over the past year, and engagement with the reservoir is vibrant, but it must not be forgotten that a major threat to the SSSI and the community still looms.

If you would like to get involved as a conservation volunteer, or join a walk, drop us a line.