Sutton Park £950,000 scheme starts

By hgreaves

WORK got underway this week on a major scheme to boost Sutton Park's status as one of the UK's most significant open spaces.

Last October, Birmingham City Council won a grant worth £954,240 from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to restore and improve the park.

The money will be filtered through over the next 10 years, but the council this week confirmed no new jobs will be created by the project.

Councillor and chairman of Sutton Park Advisory Committee, David Pears, said: "They have started cutting the heathland back as part of the restoration project. The pilot exercise at Banners Gate has been completed and work is due to start soon at Blackroot.

"It is all about restoring the park to how it used to be years ago and encouraging the return of wildlife, such as the nightjar, the Dartford warbler and the woodlark.

"We have to keep a balance or we would just have dense woodland.

"If you left your own back garden for 400 years, that is what you would be looking at.

"We want to have some heathland, glades and woodland."

He added: "This could give us access to further grants to help improve the visitor experience."

Councillor Martin Mullaney, cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture, said: "The initial phase will involve quite significant work on the northern edge of the park, but that is an essential condition of the grant to return the area to pristine heathland.

"This is a terrific boost for one of our major parks and helps fund our vision for the future.

"We're now looking to improve the wilder areas of the park in keeping with its status as a site of special scientific interest and as a national nature reserve.

"The park attracts over two million visitors each year and will now be seen as a site of national best practice."

To secure the higher level stewardship grant, park bosses had to produce a new 50-year community vision for the area.

The council also had to agree a new heritage management agreement with English Heritage, in line with the Heritage Act; a farm environment plan, which was agreed by Natural England; and a site management plan, which was drafted by external experts before being appraised by Government agencies.