A new haven for wildlife could spring from a derelict colliery site near Cannock. County Council chiefs are looking to transform the majority of the former pit at Pye Green Valley in Hednesford.
They want to make it into a wooded wildlife landscape, complete with cycleways and footpaths.
The move is being made possible by cash generated from the building of homes on part of the former West Cannock Colliery site, which stopped operating in 1982.
Houses would stand on around 20 per cent of the 45 hectare site but the rest of the valley is set to be transformed into a nature reserve to benefit the community.
Specialists are busy surveying land in Pye Green ready for the construction of a new road that will serve the site and help ease congestion on local roads. The new road will run between the junction of Cannock Road and Belt Road.
The wildlife and leisure benefits are set to include the creation of a new area of heathland, recreating the specialist habitat that has put Cannock Chase on the international wildlife map.
Experts are currently conducting an ecological survey, looking at what birds, insects, animals and plants are present, and planning how they can deliver a package of improvements for the community.
3 Comments
What a lovely idea !!
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Not really a lovely idea - this is just Cannock Chase District Council spin. One of the last remaining open spaces in Hednesford (and on the fringes of Cannock Chase) is going to have a road built through it and be covered with houses leaving a ‘token’ wildlife site which has already become a drinking den and fly tipping site. You might have though they would do the ecological survey before deciding to build on the area.
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If you read the article you will see that houses are only being built on 20% of the land that leaves 80% as open space. It is hardly a “token”! It is also the County Council that owns the land and is selling it for development not Cannock Chase District Council.
The decision to build houses on the land was made 8 years ago when an appeal to the Government Planning Inspectors was rejected. Since then it has only been a matter of how many houses and how much open space could be saved. To reduce the development to just 20% is far better than seeing the whole valley covered in houses.
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