WORK has started on the final phase of moorland restoration work high on Ilkley Moor.

Helicopters have been lifting large stones into position to create leaky dams, to slow down the flow of water from the moor, aimed at helping to reduce the risk of flooding in Wharfedale.

The leaky stone dams also help to hold water on the hill for longer, stopping current peat being washed away.

Other activity includes planting of sphagnum moss, which forms peat, pathway improvement to reduce erosion and run-off, bracken management, cutting the heather to create a more diverse moorland vegetation mosaic. The off cuts are being used to create heather bales which are used to stem the flow of water from the moorland.

Similar work has been completed on the Backstone Beck catchment and this latest phase of the project covers the three remaining river catchments that run off Ilkley Moor (Spicey Gill, Mill Gill and Crawshaw/Heber Moss).

The aim is to complete the works by the end of March 2025 when this work will have resulted in over 56,000 sphagnum plugs planted, over 25 hectares of heather management, 352 stone dams and 65 heather bale dams built, almost a hectare of bracken management, 25 hectares of sitka spruce removal, with 200 new trees planted.

The moorland restoration project has been a collaborative effort between Bradford Council’s Countryside and Land Drainage teams, Moors for the Future Partnership (the regional moorland restoration partnership), Friends of Ilkley Moor, Net Zero North contractors and Rebel Restoration (the charitable arm of Rebel Energy).

The work has been funded by a combination of Council climate emergency funding, grant funding secured by Moors for the Future Partnership and contributions from Rebel Restoration and the Friends of Ilkley Moor.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw from Bradford Council said: “This has been a fantastic collaborative project which shows how serious we are as a moorland landowner, to secure multiple benefits from this well-loved site and address in our own way, some of the local impacts of climate change.

“The work once completed will allow biodiversity to thrive on the moor, help with reducing flooding in Wharfedale, enhance the moor’s ability to capture and lock up carbon in the peat and increase its resilience to damaging wildfire. We’d like to thank all the partners who helped us achieve this ambitious restoration project.”

Richard Brewster, Conservation Works Officer at Moors for the Future Partnership said: “It’s a joy to be working on peatland as beautiful and iconic as Ilkley Moor, which has such strong cultural and historical links to the local communities, who are themselves a key part of this restoration programme.

“Alongside capital works that include gully blocking with stone, timber and heather, plus heather and bracken management and tree planting to follow, we have been running volunteer events helping us to plant sphagnum moss and are now conducting a monitoring programme to record data, which will assess the benefits of works being undertaken.”