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1. The River Mersey is one of the most polluted and heavily engineered watercourses in Europe. Improvements in water quality have led to the re‐establishment of fish populations in parts of the catchment. Further improvements in the water quality of the Mersey Basin are planned. The Environment Agency is building on these water quality improvements by improving the physical structure of watercourses and their corridors as part of catchment‐wide community‐driven initiatives. 2. Two examples are given. Whittle Brook, a small lowland watercourse, was unusual in that the highly engineered and managed stream ran through an area of landscaped ‘green space’ in a modern housing development. The physical structures of the stream and its riparian zone have been restored as an integral feature of its local landscape. The River Alt is a medium‐sized lowland watercourse that has been heavily ‘channelized’ in the past. As part of a community‐driven catchment plan called ‘Alt 2000’, a culverted section of the river has been restored to an open river corridor designed to create a range of riparian habitats with associated planting. 3. The paper illustrates a multi‐functional approach used in urban river rehabilitation and concludes that the involvement of multi‐functional teams with the local community is the key to success. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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