Plans to convert a disused golf club on the outskirts of Coventry into a vast nature reserve have been given the green light.
The city council’s cabinet members gave their approval to the scheme at the 64-hectare Brandon Wood Golf Course during this week.
The scheme forms part of Coventry City Council’s ’30 by 30′ target as outlined in the authority’s climate change strategy, aiming to conserve and manage 30 per cent of its land and inland waters by 2030.
The current figure stands at 11 per cent.
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Cllr Jim O’Boyle, the cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change, explained that once transformed, the new nature reserve, next to Brandon Marshes, would be the largest in the West Midlands and the closest to a city centre across all of England.
Both areas would fall under the management of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust.
“It will be funded using something known as biodiversity net gain (BNG) credits which were introduced by the government in 2024 and they are there to help create and maintain areas for nature conservation,” he said.
“The plans we have here would see this site funded for 30 years.”
Cllr Patricia Hetherton, cabinet member for city services, added: “We can give assurance that this site will be accessible by bus and through other means rather than people just using their own vehicle. There is interest there.
“We have Coundon Wedge and the Arboretum on London Road where they are bringing trees back that were there 200 years ago.
“There is also the green agenda at Charterhouse and in terms of comms, we have never reached them to tell them about the fantastic work we are doing.
“Let’s show what is going on in our city because there is so much good work going on and it would be lovely to share it.”
Conservative leader Cllr Gary Ridley similarly commended the ambitious proposals for the golf course, which shut its doors in 2020.
He encouraged the council to expand its use of Biodiversity Net Gains as a revenue stream.
He remarked: “I sat on Coventry Sports Trust for two years back in the day and the golf course was always an issue that we talked about on the board because it was evident 20 years ago that there were problems.
“So I am pleased that a solution has been found that retains the site as a community asset.
“There are certainly a number of sites around the city that could benefit from this, the most obvious of course being Coundon Wedge which has been subject to all kinds of speculation over the years around development.
“This would absolutely put it to bed, turning that site into a nature reserve.”