Ponds for Farms

As part of the Irwell Catchment Partnership’s work to improve water management across the catchment, the Ponds for Farms project was delivered throughout 2026 by Groundwork, thanks to WEIF funding.

Over a six-month period, seven ponds were created across six farms, helping to reduce flood risk while boosting biodiversity.

Sheepbank Farm, Littleborough

The new owner of Sheepbank Farm was keen to create a hedgerow along a field edge. Following conversations with our engagement team around land use on the farm and the benefits of water improvement interventions we began to develop a habitat development plan for the farm and what began as a shared ambition to create a simple hedgerow developed into an exemplar climate-resilient farm.

Our team supported the owner to:

• Install 200m of new hedgerow – an essential and increasingly at-risk habitat.
• Create three ponds to store rainfall and help reduce flood risk.
• Install 400m of fencing to prevent livestock entering watercourses, a common cause of poor water quality.
• Carrying out soil slitting work which helps the soil retain more water and reduce flood risk further downstream whilst also improving soil health leading to improved grass growth and biodiversity.