If you have walked past Wild Park in Brighton recently, you might have spotted the diggers and the freshly turned earth, as we transform this space into the Wild Park Rainscape. This is a new landscape that works with water, creates space for wildlife, and offers something for everyone who uses the park, allowing both people, nature, and water to thrive. It may look like a construction site today but give it time and Wild Park Rainscape will become a place where water is cleaned and stored, where nature flourishes, and where people can explore and learn.
Wild Park sits just below the A27 and, when it rains, water runs off the hard surfaces of the road, carrying oils, litter and other pollutants into drains and streams. That flow of surface water contributes to localised flooding and washes pollution into our waterways. The Rainscape will change that. It has been designed to catch the water as it runs off the road, guide it through planted channels and wetland areas, and use innovative technology, soil and vegetation to filter the water. Cleaner water will soak into the chalk aquifer beneath Brighton, which is where all of our drinking water comes from. During heavy storms the Rainscape will also hold up to two million litres of water, helping to reduce the risk of flooding in the neighbourhood.
The main construction has now finished and, although it is bare ground now, over the coming months the area will be planted with 15,000 square metres of wildflower meadow, 800 square metres of wetland planting and reed beds, and around 45 new trees, including an orchard. By next spring we hope the Rainscape will look very different, alive with colour, pollinators, and new spaces for people to enjoy.
The Rainscape is not only about water and wildlife. It will also be a place to learn. Schools will be able to use the site to show how sustainable drainage works in practice, building on the great example already set by Moulsecoomb Primary with their own raingarden. Students from the University of Brighton will also be studying how well the system filters pollution over time, making this a space for research as well as play.
This project has been shaped with help from the Friends of Wild Park group, whose knowledge and ideas have been invaluable in guiding the design. It has also been made possible thanks to funding from the National Highways Environment and Wellbeing Fund, the Environment Agency, Southern Water, and Brighton & Hove City Council. Work on the ground is being led by Brighton & Hove City Council, and the project is delivered by The Aquifer Project as part of The Living Coast UNESCO Biosphere
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