Lotto cash to create reserve for wildlife

A former kitchen garden is set to be transformed into a wildlife reserve, thanks to a £50,000 lottery grant.

Work is set to start on transforming the former gardens of Warley Abbey, Warley Woods, Smethwick, on November 9.

The gardens were used for many years by Birmingham City Council as plant nurseries. It was the demolition of the glasshouses on this site which stirred public interest in the decline of Warley Woods and led to the formation of the Warley Woods Community Trust.

The trust now manages the site on behalf of local people. In 2004, thousands of tons of soil and rubble were illegally dumped in the area, which eventually led to a successful prosecution by the Environment Agency.

Since then the trust has been working on plans for the area and it was decided the site should be managed for wild plants and wildlife.

Ponds will be dug and paths and gates put in throughout the site, which will be planted with a variety of wild plans and flowers.

Trust manager Viv Cole said: "It is really great news that this area of the park will finally have some attention and its history will be laid to rest.

"This area of the park provides something very different from the open parkland, woodland and golf course that make up the rest of the site.

"It will be managed very differently from other areas of the park and will become a significant wildlife haven.

"Once completed in the spring, we will begin a programme of inviting school groups and visitors to see what the wild area has to offer."

Money has been raised from the National Lottery's Community Spaces Programme, managed by GroundworkUK.

Surveys have been commissioned on insect and plant life which will be written up to help explain what can be found there.

Since taking responsibility for the site, Warley Woods Community Trust has created a children's play area and restored the fabric of the park, installing pathways, bins, benches and fencing.

It has restored the Edwardian drinking fountain, refurbished The Pavilion building and created a new long-length pathway around the site. The contractor for the project is BJ Landscapes who have already undertaken a number of projects at Warley Woods.