The decline in the UK's wetlands is now well understood and a wide range of initiatives are currently being developed to create and recreate wetland systems. Post-industrial or other brownfield sites can offer considerable potential for development as wetland habitats, enhancing the ecological, hydrological and social value of these formerly degraded sites.

The aim of this toolkit is to help guide the decision making process from planning, through to design and management and in post creation monitoring of created wetlands on brownfield land. It was developed to centralise all the information you will need and to provide guidance on best practice. The following 3 tools make up this toolkit:

 Planning tool

 Design and management tool

 Post creation and monitoring tool

This toolkit is designed for use by planners, conservation professionals and anyone interested in the processes and key factors to consider when creating wetlands. The separate tools can be used in order to guide you through the full process, or individual tools (and steps within these tools) can be considered in isolation depending on what stage of wetland development you are interested in.

This toolkit is derived as a result of an EPSRC funded research programme which was set up to establish the best practice for the design and management of successfully engineered wetland habitats on brownfield land.

     Click info button to view a PDF of key 'dos and dont's' for all stages.