The Calstock Wetlands Project has been completed, the Environment Agency has announced – and the parish council has legally adopted its footbridge and footpath for years to come.

Concerns over erosion below the footbridge over the wetland have been resolved, with Calstock Parish Council taking on ownership of the bridge and adjoining footpath for the community several weeks ago.

Parish councillor Alastair Tinto said: “After several years of negotiations and concerns about the scour, the erosion on the bridge. and whether that would mean the bridge was sustainable in the long term, last November the parish council was satisfied that the bridge was viable for the next generation.

“We have agreed with the Tamar Community Trust to manage the footpath and the footbridge, so two or three weeks ago all the legal documents were signed by the parish council and now ownership belongs to us for the bridge, the footpath on either side of the bridge and Town Farm Field.”

The footpath was built by the Tamar Community Trust, which is overseeing the long-term management of the wetlands with the Wetlands Management Group under a 99-year lease.

The Environment Agency spearheaded the project to reduce flood risk to Calstock while also creating an 11-hectare wildlife habitat, as water flows through a breach in the old floodbank. The new wetland habitat, revealed at each tide, already attracting birdlife. Greenshanks, avocets, snipes, water rails and European smelts are among a growing number of smelts spotted in the area.

The agency it had ‘reduced flood risk’ in the village and the project was ‘an example of action being taken to respond to climate change and sea levels rising.

In future, particularly high tides on this tidal spot on the river Tamar should see water absorbed by the new wetland rather than risk flooding the lower parts of the village.