£400,000 country park planned for Walsall

Council officers are currently drawing up a detailed blueprint to see just how feasible the idea is. They will look at the funding, management and scale of the project. The plan is to transform the former nine-hole municipal golf course in the Arboretum Extension into a country park which will feature a wildflower meadow along with a land train.

The council and Arboretum User Group are backing the proposal, which is hoped will bring more people into the extension and the arboretum as a whole.

The aim is to provide better opportunities for walking, cycling, recreation and commuting along traffic-free routes.

It will fit in with the multi-million transformation of the arboretum which is currently under way.

A new report to the council states: "We propose carrying out a feasibility study to look into the scope, viability, potential funding and management options available to create a Walsall Country Park which extends east through the Arboretum from the town centre."

The golf course was closed down by council chiefs in January 2010.

Leisure bosses said it was losing £36,000 a year and was part of widespread budget cuts to help claw back millions of pounds.

Ideas to save the course included an increase in green fees of up to 40 per cent but this was scrapped.

The authority then first started looking for an external operator to step in and take it over. But no-one suitable was found and the country park idea was pursued.

Almost £8 million is currently being ploughed into transforming the Arboretum with the final phase including a new visitor centre building.

Around £250,000 is also being spent on replacing the historic lido with interactive water jets.

It comes after the existing feature was condemned as unhygienic.

By Craig Hughes