Too often, rivers in urban areas are neglected, fenced off due to safety concerns, shunned due to fear of crime and lacking in biodiversity. Yet their amenity value to communities is potentially huge.

Three local authorities - two in England and one in the Netherlands - sought to address these issues in an EU-funded collaboration called Quercus (Quality Urban Environments for River Corridor and Stakeholders), which is not only bringing riverside improvements popular with the public and wildlife alike, but which also provides a transferable model for other local authorities.

The EU's LIFE Environment Programme is meeting just under a fifth of the £7.7m cost of the three-site project, which had three overall aims: to increase user numbers, reduce crime and the fear of crime, and increase the rivers' habitat value.

The historic city of 's-Hertogenbosch (den Bosch) in central Holland lies on the river Dommel. Overlooking the river are remnants of the city's fortifications, which are undergoing restoration.

This provided an opportunity to improve access to and use of the river, says project manager for the city Albert Oostra. "It was almost impossible to stroll by the river," he comments.

Parking, which previously impeded walking along the bank, has now been removed. "The car driver is now a guest," says Oostra. Long sight-lines create a landscape that is both legible and reassuring, with unimpeded links back to the city centre.

The river also suffered from "poor ecological conditions", he says. "It had steep banks, and mediocre conditions for aquatic animals." The creation of wetland habitats along the banks now allows the river to serve as a wildlife corridor.

Meanwhile, back in south-east London, similar work was underway to increase the value to communities of the River Ravensbourne, hidden in culverts and channels for much of its flow through the city, as part of wider improvements to the borough of Lewisham.

The EU granted the borough financial assistance of more than £800,000 towards the project, says Quercus project manager Alison Taylor.

"They are looking for innovation," she says. "You wouldn't necessarily get funding for another project on designing out crime in river corridors. You're competing with proposals in very different areas."

Lewisham engaged consultancy GLE to help negotiate the often arcane world of EU funding. Funding is geared mainly towards public consultation, collaboration and publicity, rather than capital works, Taylor adds.

The approach applies Designing Out Crime principles from the housing world to the riverside environment, using a model developed by Groundwork South East London. This promoted the idea of the self-policing space - in other words, by increasing use, social controls on behaviour are reinforced without necessarily expanding an explicit security presence. This can be achieved in the context of river corridors by promoting their use as routes for pedestrians and cyclists.

Community involvement was another aspect of crime minimisation. "Informal social controls have been found to be greatly enhanced by strong community ownership," the model states.

The project focused on two stretches of the river - Cornmill Gardens and Ladywell Fields. "The river was a key asset in both sites," says Taylor. "People are drawn to water. Yet both areas were under-used and the river kept out of sight within them."

The design for Cornwell Gardens, winner of Best Streetscape Project at last year's Horticulture Week Landscape & Amenity Awards, saw concrete channelling replaced by more naturalistic waterside planting, railings removed, a lawn and playground created, and a route for pedestrians and cyclists installed, bordered with more formal planting. "It sets the standard for the rest of the town centre," says Taylor.

Landscape architecture practice Building Design Partnership also provided designs for renovation work further up the river's course at Ladywell Fields.

"There was a featureless open space with a crowded entrance - you hardly realised there was a park there at all," says Taylor.

Half the river's flow has been diverted on a meandering route through the middle of the park, with the spoil used to contour and re-grade the surrounding areas. This was intended to increase both the amenity and the biodiversity value of the park.

With the help of the Environment Agency, water flow in the new channel was modelled to ensure it was consistent under a range of conditions, while also retaining flow in the original course.

Biodiversity has been further enhanced with the creation of wildflower meadows, created and maintained by volunteers, who also removed Himalayan balsam and created a habitat for birds and beetles, says ranger Nick Harvey. "Before, the wildlife area had been fenced off and was just a litter trap."

Volunteers were recruited both locally and internationally, via agency Concordia. "It let us spend more on materials," says Harvey.

Since then there have also been more than 120 environmental learning sessions with schools and a weekend wildlife club has been created.

"Engagement with the community has been the highlight," says Taylor. "When people invest time, they gain a feeling of ownership."

Initially the plan "met with some controversy", she admits. "Having an open water body and an unfenced play area required some persuasion. And the original plans were for more trees to be removed from the park. We scaled that back when people made their feelings known."

However, she cites the need to be upfront with the public about more controversial aspects of a project as one of the most important lessons learned.

Reaping the benefits

The Ladywell Fields project has been a qualified success when rated against the original aims of the Quercus programme. The number of users of the park has trebled since 2006. Surveys also show that 78 per cent of users felt safe, up from 44 per cent before work started.

Unfortunately, with 18 incidents a year, crime levels in the park have not fallen. "But with three times more people using the park, you're three times less likely to be a victim," Taylor says.

She adds that, thanks to the habitat improvements in the park, biodiversity "has doubled".

Working on the same problem in a different context meant the other two cities in the programme were able to suggest solutions, she says. "We had interesting discussions on cultural differences, for example on car use. The Dutch were intrigued by how much we rely on volunteer labour."

Sharing such lessons has been a key part of the project. During the work, chief executives of 12 French towns visited the site with a view to applying the approach back home.

And last month a two-day event to mark the completion of the Quercus project attracted more than 100 delegates. "The workshops we held were popular with a number of local authorities from London and elsewhere, even as far afield as Sweden," says Taylor.

University of Sheffield senior landscape lecturer Helen Woolley was engaged to evaluate the Ladywell Fields project, interviewing those involved at the beginning and end of each phase.

She has raised concerns over a lack of continuity in the educational work and suggested more links with the adjoining University Hospital, whose patients are regular users. She also suggested that issues such as dogs and cycles should be discussed with contractor Glendale.

However, she rated play-space quality as "very good". Overall, she says, "it has raised Lewisham's profile in London".

RECONNECTING WITH THE RIVER DEE

"The Dee is an internationally important river, but we've turned our back on it," says Chester City Council project manager Mike O'Kell. "It's five minutes from the city centre, yet you could visit the city and never know the Dee is there. This project has helped reverse that."

As a "cycle demonstration city", as well as a partner in the Quercus project, Chester had an incentive to ensure continuous and consistent public access to the riverside. Flintshire Riverside Path now links the city to country, allowing uninterrupted cycling from the city centre to the north Wales coast.

Initially the council conducted an open space and biodiversity audit of the river course. "We needed something to join it up and to see it as a whole in terms of walking and cycling," says O'Kell.

For pedestrians, the walk along the promenade stretch is being integrated into the walk around Chester's famous city wall. "The visitor economy funds everything else in the city," he says.

To this end, the Chester work has shared the Quercus project's aims of promoting self-policing and minimising opportunities for vandalism and crime, while increasing the attractiveness and use, and enhancing distinctiveness and wildlife value.

Invasive species have been removed from the river bank, while paths have been upgraded to allow shared pedestrian and cycle access, from the meadows in the east, where cattle still graze, to the canalised section in the west leading cyclists out on the Flintshire Riverside Path.

The work also aims to attract people from the city centre into Grosvenor Park, which borders the river. It is hoped that a 10-year maintenance plan will lead to the park achieving Green Flag status. The park already has a ranger and a friends group, and is used to host events.

According to council landscape architect John Seiler: "The issues were a fear of crime, under-use and the lack of a management and maintenance plan. It was also terrible for wildlife, but it has huge scope for improvement."

Future plans for the city include a bridge over the Dee, extending the path further west, funded by £1.25m from Sustrans and the National Lottery, and a further £2.4m investment in cycle routes.