Sladesbridge ( kw, Ponslayn) is a small village located near

Wadebridge Wadebridge (; kw, Ponswad) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

, England, UK. It is situated at the confluence of the River Allen and the Croan Stream about 1 km upstream of the confluence with the

River Camel The River Camel ( kw, Dowr Kammel, meaning ''crooked river'') is a river in Cornwall, England. It rises on the edge of Bodmin Moor and with its tributaries its catchment area covers much of North Cornwall. The river flows into the eastern Cel ...

. The surrounding area is in the Cornwall

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of th ...

and the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

is a

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a County Wildlife Site.

Economy

It has a number of businesses including Slade's House Country Inn, Trelawney Garden Leisure, Knevitt Consulting Engineers, Wood Design Furniture and Kestle Quarry.

Flora and fauna

Otters,

salmon Salmon () is the common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of ...

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania ...

water rail The water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the war ...

and

snipe A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/ camouflaging plumage. The '' Gallinago'' snipes have a n ...

are often seen in and around the river and the reedbeds either side. A footpath runs along the western edge of the river allowing the general public to view the wildlife.

Flooding

The village flooded very badly in June 1993 when the fire service had to rescue people from their properties. It had flooded to a lesser extent many other times over the years so following the Autumn 2000 floods, defra made additional funding available to enable the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and en ...

to promote a

flood defence Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

scheme for the area, including the hamlet of Clapper on the edge of Wadebridge. The car park of the pub was the site of the opening of the Environment Agency's £1.8million scheme in April 2004 by the outgoing chairman of the South West Regional Flood Defence Committee, Deborah Clark. The scheme itself, designed by

Halcrow Group Limited Halcrow Group Limited was a multinational engineering consultancy company, based in the United Kingdom Halcrow was one of the UK's largest consultancies, with origins stretching back to 1868. The UK-based consultancy specialised in the provision ...

and built by Mowlem Civil Engineering and the Environment Agency's own in-house workforce, was a finalist in the following year's Prime Minister's Better Public Building Awards and was awarded a plaque by the

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for C ...

(CABE).CABE
/ref> It was also a finalist in the

British Construction Industry Awards The British Construction Industry Awards (BCI Awards or BCIA) were launched by ''New Civil Engineer'' magazine and Thomas Telford Ltd in 1998, at the time both owned by the Institution of Civil Engineers. The awards seek to recognise outstanding ...

Small Civil Engineering category and made the final three of the BCIA Best Practice Awards at the same time. The scheme was designed to fit into its surroundings with all walls built with slate to look like the local Cornish hedges and a 9 hectare

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

created to allow the rivers to reclaim their floodplain. A new

cycle track A cycle track, separated bike lane or protected bike lane (sometimes historically referred to as a sidepath) is an exclusive bikeway that has elements of a separated path and on-road bike lane. A cycle track is located within or next to the ro ...

was created with the view to potentially linking the village with the

Camel Trail The Camel Trail is a permissive cycleway in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, that provides a recreational route for walkers, runners, cyclists and horse riders. The trail is flat (and suitable for disabled access); running from Padstow to We ...

. Over 4000 native trees and shrubs were planted as well and the completed scheme now protects all the properties and businesses in the village against a flood with a 1.3% chance of occurring in a year.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Cornwall