Produced May 2011
Ten years of protecting The Broads - for communities, for wildlife, for you
Broadland, East Anglia, is a unique and environmentally sensitive area, being home to plants and animals that are found in few other places in Britain. It’s also an area where people live, work and play. To the casual observer it may appear to be a natural system and part wilderness but it is actually artificial and the result of man’s intervention over many centuries. Without continued maintenance, the area would flood and change drastically.
Ten years ago the Environment Agency awarded a 20-year contract to Broadland Environmental Services Limited (BESL) to maintain and improve the flood defences. BESL is a partnership of contractor BAM Nuttall Ltd and consultant Halcrow. The project is now nearing the end of the programme of improvement works and moving on to a maintenance phase.