‘Win-win’ idea to turn Ottery land into nature reserve

Proposals to turn land near St Saviours bridge into a nature reserve have received backing from the town council.

Deputy mayor Councillor Ian Holmes revealed his idea to tidy up the land and create a picnic area and public access to the riverbank at the December meeting.

The council had been trying to sell the land, but agreed in principal to look at redeveloping the green space.

Cllr Holmes said: “The trees will be tided up, the riverbank will be tided up, nice footpath and nice houses. It will be nicer for the people in those houses to look across to a nicely-maintained nature reserve rather than a jungle.

“It could be a win-win for everybody and the cost would be minimal because all we would need to do is mow a few paths through it and hopefully we might get a few local groups might take ownership to maintain it.”

He added that he had held discussions with English Nature, Devon Wildlife Trust and the Environment Agency.