Ketley Paddock Mount in Telford revamped and to become nature reserve

Residents have been battling to stop Ketley Paddock Mound being built on for nearly 50 years.

That long fight will finally be won tonight when members of Telford & Wrekin Council's ruling cabinet rubber-stamp a move to declare the site a Local Nature Reserve.

This week, the Friends of Ketley Paddock Mound showed off the results of a £36,000 grant from the council's Pride In Your Community fund.

The group has spent the money on improvements to site entrances and footpaths.

Liz Young, of the Friends of Ketley Paddock Mound, said: "It was very, very steep in places and the entrance to the main gateway was very steep, so a lot of it was to bring all the gradients down and to make them smooth so that the whole place is very much more accessible.

"There is a variety of walks, and all of them are accessible.

"One of them that goes right through the site is fine, it's very, very gentle, there is hardly any slope on it and all the entrances are easy to open now or they are open for wheelchair access.

"We have put information boards with maps on them at every entrance so that people can see, if they are new to the site, they aren't going to get lost somewhere, they actually know where the path is going to go. The future I think is looking fairly bright."

Resident Fen Tyler was one of the original campaigners who fought the first bid to build on the site – way back in 1967.

He said: "At the time it did have planning permission for housing on it and a road to connect Woodside Road to the main Holyhead Road. We just started the battle there and then, and fought it on and off over the years.

"The district council will be looking at the probability of making it a local nature reserve. That will pretty much give it a guaranteed future, there will be very little likelihood of anyone developing it, or trying to pinch bits of it, as has happened before."

Cabinet members are recommended to approve the proposal to designate it a Local Nature Reserve.