Lib Dem councillors have been working hard to get improvement works commenced at the Carrs Nature Reserve, to give residents somewhere safe to go for a walk in the midst of Covid and beyond.

Councillor Mark Wilkes, who has led the project comments, “In just a few short months we have managed to raise £60,000 from numerous different sources including: All three of our neighbourhood budgets, the AAP budget, Parish Paths fund, Parish Council, Northumbrian Water, Local Transport Plan, money we recovered from a maintenance reserve which had disappeared in the County Council’s budgets and s106 money which Story Homes agreed to bring forward so we could start work early.”

Work will involve clearing out overgrown areas to re-create large ponds which have dried out, putting in viewing areas with disabled suitable seating, and most importantly perhaps in light of Covid, creating and resurfacing a kilometre of pathway around the outside of the site. We will also be getting some dropped kerbs installed near NWL HQ and amending the access gates so that they are disabled accessible.

The whole project is to take a few months to complete. Work has just started on the ponds and we are chasing all the time to make sure that timescales do not slip to get the path works done.