Dronfield - the Lea Brook Valley project

Dronfield is a Derbyshire town half way between Sheffield and Chesterfield and just three miles from the Peak District National Park. It’s the home of Norman Crowson, a committed A Rocha volunteer, and of one of A Rocha’s most exciting Associated Projects – the Lea Brook Valley.

News from the Lea Brook Valley project.

Some history

Back in 2005, Lea Brook Valley was a patch of urban wildness in need of a little more care. In May 2005 interested Christians met with RSPB members, Friends of the Earth, the local natural history and photographic societies, the north-east Derbyshire Badger Group and Chesterfield Council. The result was a ‘Churches Together’ project involving 17 churches.

Since then, several years of transforming work have made their mark. Volunteers and Town Council staff have cleared rubbish (including a scooter, building rubble, traffic cones and scaffolding poles), painted over X-rated graffiti, put up bird and bat boxes with the help of a hydraulic ‘cherry-picker’, planted trees and made access easier by improving a path through the woodland. Not surprisingly perhaps, local people are positive about the ongoing transformation.  

Today, the project involves many individuals and organisations. The Churches Together steering committee continues to guide the work, while the support of Dronfield Town Council has been vital to the project’s success. Yorkshire Water and Keyland Developments (who own the wetland area at the top of the valley) are vitally important players and A Rocha UK and the Lowland Derbyshire Biodiversity Partnership provide guidance on managing the site for wildlife. Then there’s Dronfield Civic Society, Dronfield Natural History Society, NE Derbyshire District Council, the Dronfield  Footpaths and Bridleways Society, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Groundworks Cresswell and of course, the local people. Co-operation is one of A Rocha’s key values – and without it, this Associated Project wouldn’t be the success that it is, or the even bigger success that it’s heading towards.

Lea Brook Valley today

To see images of the site and its wildlife, click here.

Future plans

To find out more about our future plans, click here.

For more information, or to get actively involved in this project, contact Norman Crowson (norman.crowson@arocha.org).