River restoration works have got underway in Chesham in a bid to reduce flooding risk. 

Work started yesterday (Monday) on restoration to a tributary of the River Chess to reduce flood risk in Chesham Old Town and remove a century-old concrete weir. 

The scheme is the brainchild of Bucks County Council's flood management team, working with the Chilterns Chalk Streams Project, the Hundridge Estate and Chesham 1879 Lawn Tennis and Squash Club through whose land the river flows through.

The project hopes to create more capacity and stop water backing up to cause flooding. 

A shallow 100-metre channel is set to be replaced with a deeper winding channel and one of two weirs - thought to have been built around 100 years ago to support Chesham's famous watercress production - will be demolished.

A number of trees along the river will be pruned back to allow more light in and dead wood is being removed where it could be dangerous to people or property. 

The £20,000 project - which is due to be completed by the beginning of February - comes after an investigation by the flood management team after the 2014 floods, which waterlogged neighbours' homes that back on to the river.

Around 100 homes in the area are at risk of flooding.

Chalk Streams project officer Allen Beechey said the 10-mile long Chess is one of several chalk streams that rise in the Chilterns.

Chalk streams, which flow only when ground water levels rise, are a globally rare habitat, and England has the majority of them.

Bill Chapple OBE, County Council cabinet member for planning and environment, said: "By restoring this section of the River Chess, we'll be returning it to a more natural state, which will allow the natural chalk stream processes to re-create habitat.  

"I'm very pleased our team have thought so carefully and creatively. They're not only reducing a flooding risk to residents and businesses in the old town, but also working with local experts to re-create a habitat lost long ago, and which will be good for restoring flora and fauna to this reach of the Chess, and enhancing our local environment."