In response to the Government announcement allowing unlimited exercise and travel to parks and outdoor destinations we have now reviewed our decision to close the car parks at both Idle Valley and Attenborough Nature Reserves.

Whilst many parks and greenspaces have been closed during lockdown, our nature reserves across the county have remained accessible, providing essential opportunities for exercise and vital connection with nature for people across Nottinghamshire at a uniquely challenging time. We are part of the natural world, not separate to it and the past couple of months have underlines just how essential it is that everyone has access to nature and greenspaces.

The vast majority of people have heeded the advice to stay local, taking the opportunity to enjoy the wildlife in the gardens and to explore green spaces on their doorstep. In doing so, they have helped to protect the NHS and save lives.

Whilst recognising that the guidance has changed we remain cautious of encouraging large numbers of people to travel to our sites so, for now, our advice remains for people to stay local and to enjoy our reserves on foot or to travel by bicycle. However, given the huge number of visitors Attenborough receives we have decided that from today we will reopen the car park between 9am and 8pm daily to limit traffic and parking issues for our neighbours in Attenborough Village and along Barton Lane. For now, the car park at Idle Valley remains closed though we will keep the levels of demand under review and open discussions with our partner, North Notts College about how and when we can reopen safely in due course.

Over the next few weeks as more and more people choose to travel to visit sites we will face a considerable challenge in terms of checking paths are accessible and looking for any birds or other wildlife that may have moved into unusual areas whilst the reserves have been quieter and we thank you in advance for your understanding as the team get on top of this work.