Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is pleased to announce that after an exhaustive review of options, including a causeway or bund and possible long-term diversions, a replacement bridge has been chosen as our preferred, most practicable and resilient solution. The Trust is committed to installing a replacement bridge by the end of March next year and is now finalising plans for the removal of the old bridge and ground preparation for the construction and installation of the new structure.
The Trust is acutely aware that the closure of the Works bridge has been a cause of frustration and inconvenience for visitors, residents and volunteers over the past 18 months – frustration heightened due to previous periods of closure and the downgrading of the bridleway prior to our purchase of the reserve. Identifying a solution has been a real challenge due to difficulties of access to the bridge site, the need to ensure that wildlife isn't unduly disturbed during construction and the potential future implications of climate change on water levels on the site.
We estimate that the new Bridge will cost in the region of £375,000 – a major investment to restore people’s access to nature. Whilst we are absolutely committed to the project, we must secure significant additional funding to ensure it doesn’t impact on work across the reserve or our wider work across the county.
Since identifying a new bridge as the only practicable long-term solution we’ve been reaching out to potential funders and supporters and we are working hard to secure new funding to ensure that we can deliver the bridge project to restore access whilst continuing to deliver much needed management and engagement across the reserve and our ambitious work to create a wilder Nottinghamshire for all.
We have so far secured £90,000 in pledges of support and earmarked a further £85,000 towards the project, meaning we need to raise around £200,000 by the end of the year, including via grant bids and a soon to be launched public fundraising campaign.
