Safety work to go ahead at nature site

A GRANT of more than £10,000 has been awarded to parish leaders to carry out safety work at a nature reserve near Yate.

The money will be used to rebuild The Ride, a public path at Wapley Common that is well used for much of the year but has been closed to walkers for several winters due to the muddy conditions.

Dodington Parish Council received the Sita Trust grant of £10,495 – funded through the landfill tax – for a project to install drainage and build a new path to an upper meadow.

Parish clerk Wendy Mayo said it was a lack of drainage that led to water flowing across the path and, in the winter, making it too slippery and dangerous for walkers.

Wapley Common is an area of open and wooded land which lies between the Shire Way estate in Yate and the hamlet of Wapley.

Dodington councillor Paul Hulbert said: “The Ride is an important route for walkers and for vehicles used to maintain the reserve.

“Without it we would have to take heavy machinery across flower-rich meadows, which would damage them.”

Wapley Bushes Conservation Group plays a major role in caring for the reserve, managing it on behalf of the parish council, and has also chipped in £1,200 for the scheme.

Its spokesman, Tim Fairhead, said: “This is one of our largest projects and we couldn’t do it without Sita Trust’s help. As well as improving access, upgrading The Ride will preserve the vegetation of the woodland edge and maintain it as one of our best areas for butterflies and other insects.”

Mr Fairhead has been at the forefront of practical work at the reserve, as well as compiling the environmental information to attract such grants, and was presented with an historic map of the area by the council.