By Saul Cooke-Black

ECOTRICITY has revealed details of plans to transform a portion of land into a new nature reserve.

It forms one of the main parts of the green energy company’s proposal to build a £100 million Eco Park near junction 13 of the M5.

The nature reserve would be managed by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust on land currently used for grazing and which is prone to flooding.

Dr Simon Pickering, senior ecologist at Ecotricity, said: “The development of the Eco Park would give us a real opportunity to kickstart a vision to restore a wetland in the area which has been lost over the last 400 years.

“One of the aims is for the Eco Park to become an exemplar of biodiversity and sustainability and the nature reserve is a key part of that plan.”

Colin Studholme, from GWT, said: “There are huge opportunities to improve the site for wildlife.

“Being next to the river the excavation of shallow pools would create wetland habitat which would soon encourage a range of birds and animals such as little egret and otter, and the surrounding grassland could be enhanced for wildflowers and insects.”