PLANS have been submitted to create a new, 25-hectare wetland site between Bridgwater and Street.

Wessex Water has applied to Somerset Council to create an integrated constructed wetland (ICW) at Shapwick in a bid to improve water quality and biodiversity.

The firm announced the £5 million project in April, which it says will cut harmful nutrients in water on the Somerset Levels and Moors.

“At present, water flowing off the Polden Hills, and adjacent farmland enters the ditch systems with elevated levels of phosphorus and other nutrients accumulated from upstream farming practices and discharges of final effluent associated with upstream water recycling centres (WRCs),” the application said.

“Creation of an ICW has been included as part of Wessex Water’s obligations under the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP).

The new site would cover around 25 hectares of the Somerset Levels. Picture: Wessex Water/Somerset Council

“The ICW is an innovative nature-based solution for water quality improvement and for protecting and enhancing ecosystems within the downstream river catchment within the Somerset Levels and Moors.

“The primary objective of the ICW is to improve the quality of the water flowing into the Mill Brook and ultimately into the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar site and SPA.

“The wetland cells will act as natural interceptors that will capture silt and coarse sediment, as well as leaching out phosphorus within the pesticides and fertilisers used on adjacent farmland and from upstream final effluent discharges.”

READ MORE: Wessex Water unveils plan for new wetland to tackle harmful nutrients on Somerset Levels

As part of the scheme, two arable fields next to the Hawk and Owl Trust Visitor Centre will be landscaped to create a wetland feeder cell, four wetland cells and an outlet channel to the Mill Brook, with the northern field regraded using excavated material and seeded to create a “low-nutrient, species-rich grassland”.

Access to the site will come from Station Road, the plan said, though no alterations are proposed.

Work could get underway in spring 2026 and is expected to take around seven months, working between 7.30am and 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.

For more details of the scheme, and to comment on the plans, log on to somerset.gov.uk and search application reference 43/25/00009.