The Tortworth Estate plays a significant role in the local rural economy through a wide range of activities. During 2023 the Estate began work on an exciting and bold strategy for the future, which adopts a holistic approach, entitled a “Strategic Vision For a Thriving English Country Estate”. Addressing local, regional and national issues the Vision will run for the next three decades and will guide the Estate and its custodians, the Moreton family, on how they will contribute and work in harmony with the local community, stakeholders and Councils.
The Strategic Vision will be an evolving, live document and whilst in draft form it has been shared, in confidence, with:-
- South Gloucestershire Council Cabinet and Officers - January 2024 and December 2024
- Charfield, Cromhall, Falfield, Wickwar and Tortworth Parish Councils and Thornbury Town Council - October 2024
Once feedback from those meetings has been digested the Vision will be amended and it is the intention to make the next iteration available to the public, and other stakeholders, during 2025. In the meantime, the Estate is pleased to publish the Foreword and Executive Summary from the Vision. In addition, we publish a successful case study of “The Cromhall Wetland Project” which illustrates the Estate’s approach to tackling particular natural challenges facing us all.

Foreword
I care passionately about the environment, but I also hope that my family, and many of those we share this land with, will live here for centuries to come, as we have for the past four centuries.
The legacy of our decision-making must be of genuine benefit to both existing and future communities. It must be inclusive and create meaningful value and a diversity of opportunities that satisfy local needs.
We have the capacity to help deliver on many of the evolving national and local priorities within the Estate, including the response to climate and nature emergencies. I care that food production and any development is delivered in the right way for the planet as well as for people.
From my personal point of view, the fundamental tenets of this Plan must be progress, beauty, inclusivity, and sustainability. We look forward to working in partnership with the local authorities and other stakeholders, including the local communities and businesses, helping to maintain the area as a healthy, enjoyable and vibrant place to live and work, whilst respecting and making space for nature and putting people before profit.
Robert Moreton
Chair of the Board of Directors – Tortworth Estate
Executive Summary
Background
Tortworth is a diverse, privately owned rural estate in South Gloucestershire, located at the northern gateway to the West of England within South Gloucestershire Council’s Northern Rural Arc. The Moreton family are the current custodians, whose home it has been since the 1620s. Today, the Estate extends to 4,500 acres encompassing farming, woodland, a registered park, a farm shop, quarrying, commercial and residential properties, several holiday cottages, and various community uses. These collectively form part of a hardworking trading business, that today finds itself on the doorstep of growing urban areas with additional pressures including demands for housing, transport, and recreational space. In the face of the changes and uncertainty that challenge us all, the Estate has produced this plan to guide its future development, seeking to balance local needs, site-specific opportunities, and wider pressures for change. The Tortworth Estate will continue to provide homes, food, work, nature and beauty for local communities in the long term. Howard Cole Limited have been retained to prepare an estate-wide vision with a long term and sustainable approach. This Plan sets out how the Estate will meet its commitment over the next three decades.Context
National and local government policies require that the Estate responds to a need to level-up the rural economy; reduce carbon emissions from travel and agriculture; provide affordable and sustainable homes and employment; produce wholesome food; and address the climate and nature emergencies.Conservation of the Estate’s natural and cultural heritage, in parallel with food production, is considered by the Estate to be its lead issue. The Estate has distinctive assets, but is not an isolated rural idyll. In a region with a growing and talented population, the Estate will need to play its part in planning for and providing affordable and sustainable new integrated living, working and community spaces. The Estate’s ambition over time is to respond with a negative carbon footprint, net gains in biodiversity and with enhanced levels of access to areas of natural beauty and green space.Natural and Cultural Capital
From the productive organic soils, to the geological bedrock which has built its cottages and farms; its ancient woods, streams, archaeological and designed landscapes; the Estate’s natural and cultural assets will be protected. The two historic parks were replanted by the third Earl of Ducie (1827-1921) who created one of this country’s greatest tree collections, now visible from the M5 as a most distinctive skyline. He built the stately Court and gardens. These were requisitioned in the Second World War and subsequently sold off, so that Tortworth Court Hotel, Tortworth Business Park, Tortworth Arboretum and HMP Leyhill are not now in ownership of the Estate although the surrounding historic park remains part of Tortworth Estate. In the twentieth century this entire heritage area was put on Historic England’s ‘at risk’ register, and since 2016 Tortworth Estate has been implementing a clear vision and plan to bring the area remaining in Estate ownership into favourable condition. The Estate is now seeking to deliver an even wider range of biodiversity net gain and carbon sequestration projects, and is preparing a robust natural capital baseline registry including farm carbon and soil organic matter surveys. It will seek sensitive new uses where needed to restore and maintain its historic buildings and natural landscapes.
A Carbon Negative, Climate-Adapted Estate
This Plan sets out measures to improve renewable energy generation, encourage low carbon travel and decarbonisation of homes, farms and businesses that will help the Estate meet its carbon negative ambition. The Estate will also seek to improve carbon sequestration and wildlife habitats with new productive woodlands, restored watercourses and parkland, new orchards, smart soil management, increasing its output of organic wholesome food, reducing food miles.Education, Skills and Employment
The Moreton family have been advocates of making education accessible to all, from building Tortworth School for local children in 1797 to gifting a parcel of land for educational purposes only to the Governors of Charfield National School in 1893. Today the Estate continues to play a role in local education, skills training, and providing direct and indirect employment opportunities. That role will continue with initiatives to remove housing and transport barriers, through a diversity of affordable housing stock and active travel opportunities, and to help retain a young workforce to sustain strong and healthy rural community living. A new primary school, training hub and employment spaces are proposed.Transport and Mobility
This plan sets out bold active travel (walking & cycling) options using greenways that link communities, employment opportunities and existing transport nodes, with a significant positive impact on health and well-being and offering an alternative to using the car, particularly for last mile journeys. It is also proposed to deliver a low carbon travel hub at M5 Junction 14 as part of the proposed Buckover Garden Village.Food and Farming
Farming and the production of wholesome food will continue to sit at the heart of the Estate’s core business, adopting Organic and Stewardship standards for its in-hand farms and woodlands. Substantial investment is needed to improve climate change resilience, productivity, carbon sequestration, net zero and diversification.Minerals
Tortworth will use quarrying revenues from its nationally important mineral reserves to reinvest in a productive and sustainable estate. Partially or wholly worked-out quarries will be restored as natural habitats and sustainable enterprises. The generation of renewable energy can reduce the carbon footprint of quarry operations, but also provide an important after-use.Development
Many of the initiatives set out in this Plan require investment which can only be met through releasing capital. The Estate is unusual in seeking to retain a long term stewardship role in new and mixed use developments rather than simply selling off development land. This plan sets out a series of proposals, ranging from Buckover Garden Village and Junction 14 travel hub; Cromhall housing, new primary school and skills hub; quarrying; to smaller schemes for renewable energy and the reuse of redundant farm buildings.Next Steps
Tortworth Estate is keen to share with local stakeholders and local authorities the ideas set out in this plan. It will evolve over time in response to any feedback and changing circumstances. It will be reviewed every five years and monitored on an annual basis. The Estate commits to sharing its plans to make the Estate a better place for living, working and enjoyment.Tortwoth Estate In Numbers
- 1,728 hectares Size of the Tortworth Estate
- 30.15 km of public rights of way on the Estate
- 350,000 trees In 225 hectares of woodland
- 29.50 tonnes Estimated annual CO2 savings from Ground Source Heat Pumps
- 1,500 number of football pitches our permanent pasture could cover
- 1,600,000 Population within a 25-mile radius of the Estate
- 240 Staff employed by over 30 different businesses based on the Estate
- 13% of the Estate is Woodland
- 1,500 MWh Power generation from solar panels since 2012
- 3,000,000 pints of organic milk produced each year
- 400 years of stewardship under the same family
- 101 residential and commercial properties
The Cromhall Wetland Project – A Case Study

Increasingly before 2010, Tortworth had serious concerns at the levels of phosphorus found in the Tortworth Brook arising from sewage effluent and the Cromhall Water Recycling Centre (WRC). Following engagement and partnership working with Wessex Water and the Environment Agency, the Estate was instrumental in leading on the large scale but targeted biodiversity-rich wetland project.
The Cromhall Wetland Project is the first of its kind and is a national exemplar in the water industry. It is designed to treat wastewater by removing phosphorus and other sediments from sewage effluent. The aim is to ensure the water quality and ecology of the Tortworth Brook is protected and enhanced.
The pioneering 2.8-hectare wetland project became fully operational in 2020. Monitoring of the project has already shown:
- A 27.5% reduction in total phosphorus;
- A 62% reduction in ammonia;
- A reduction of more than 60% in nitrogen; and,
- A 111% increase in biodiversity value, with a projected significant increase expected to continue over a 30-year period.
Tortworth is proud to have been the catalyst in resolving the environmental impacts caused by the WRC and at the same time securing an enhanced landscape that now accommodates thousands of native wetland plants, numerous species of wildlife, and the arrival of several UK Red and Amber list bird species within the first year of operation.
Fundamentally, the project brings with it an extremely important by-product, a very significant carbon sink.