Lower Hoopern Valley
Lower Hoopern Valley is a steeply sided, 38-acre plot of land to the south of Streatham campus. The space is currently maintained by the University of Exeter’s Grounds team and has been identified as an area of opportunity for enhanced biodiversity, community use and research activity.
Download a self-guided tour to the Valley
Since our first public engagement period in May 2023, we have taken the feedback received and are managing the Lower Hoopern Valley to meet our objectives, which received significant support.
- Enhance biodiversity and natural capital
- Community engagement and education
- Natural sciences research opportunities, and
- Carbon sequestration and storage.
An overview of our management is available here or click on the links to view feedback from the May 2023 and November 2023 consultation events.
We have carried out access improvements in the Valley, including a new accessible path and bench, adding surfacing to muddy ‘pinch points’, a new bridge over the existing culvert and lockable noticeboards. Helped by staff, students and the local community, we have planted new hedges to provide more wildlife-friendly habitat, help protect the accessible path from road noise and pollution, and help prevent people throwing litter into the woodland near the cycle path.
In 2025, working with the Environment Agency, Exeter City Council and CREWW researchers, we have installed nature-based flood management solutions in the Taddiforde Brook. The leaky woody spreaders and leaky dams (almost like a dam, but with gaps to allow fish and freshwater invertebrates through) help slow the flow of water through the Valley. They hold back water but don't stop it and connect the brook to the flood plain to create wet grassland habitat. We have removed some of the artificial structures that reduce how connected the brook is for wildlife, and used wood from around the brook to help open it up for more light, allowing wetland plants to develop. This helps us to improve the quality of water leaving campus and we are monitoring how slow our flow is with researchers from CREWW.
We have been working with the Friends of Hoopern Valley (FoHV), formed in 2024 as an unincorporated charity supporting the University's management of the Valley as a County Wildlife Site and biodiversity hub. FoHV is made up of student members and local residents and actively collaborates with the University community, hosting events and activities whilst promoting environmental awareness and stewardship of the Valley’s ecosystem. We attended their AGM to provide an update on previous and future works – a report is available here: Lower Hoopern Valley AGM 2024 . If you are interested in joining them, check out their website.
