Fire wrecks beauty spot visitor centre

­A fire today destroyed part of a visitor centre at a Black Country nature reserve which is undergoing a major refurbishment programme.

Thousands of pounds of damage was believed to have been caused to the Sandwell Valley RSPB centre off Tanhouse Lane, in West Bromwich, in this morning's blaze.

Firefighters from West Bromwich, Handsworth and Perry Barr tackled the flames when the crews were called to the premises shortly before 2.30am.

Watch commander Pete Goddard, of West Bromwich Fire Station, said: "There was a lot of damage caused to the building which has lost half of the roof.

"It was quite a severe fire and the building will require a lot of work to repair it.

"We don't know what caused the fire, but it appears to have started from outside and spread to the building.

He added:?"There has been some building work going on at the site in the car park area."

The beauty spot is a popular venue for families and bird watchers and was being modernised to the tune of £120,000.

The work was under way to build a pond the wildlife garden, create new paths, flower borders and seating areas, a new volunteers' workshop, a storage facility and a cycle shelter, and extend the car park.

The scheme was part-funded by regeneration agency Advantage West Midlands and Natural England through the Natural Assets grant programme to benefit residents by improving the natural environment.

In the ambitious plans, iImproved nature trails will link up with footpaths and nature trails across the country park, including a cycle route.

The nature reserve, which is the size of 16 football pitches, was developed on the site of the former Hamstead Colliery.Staff celebrated its 25th birthday with a variety of events last year. RSPB site manager Lee Copplestone was at the scene today surveying the damage.

He said the visitor centre would be shut until further notice."Obviously we are devastated because this centre means so much to so many people in the community," he said.