AN £80,000 scheme has been planted in Swindon to enhance urban wildlife habitats and improve public wellbeing.

The Forest Meadows Project is part of a three- year programme by Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust encouraging health and wellbeing groups to form links with these natural areas by planting wildflowers and monitoring the sites for wildlife such as butterflies and moths.

“This is a wonderful project which has so many benefits attached to it,” said Gary Sumner, the council's cabinet member for strategic planning.

“On the one hand there is the work to enrich our wildlife habitats, while on the other there are opportunities for local people to get involved in a community project in their area and have the chance to experience the health and wellbeing benefits that are associated with working outdoors in a calm and relaxing environment.”

Funded by the council, the project will be led by the trust and includes 12 sites mainly along the corridor of the River Ray in North Swindon.

In total it will cover more than 170 hectares of land.

And the project will encompass Seven Fields Nature Reserve in Penhill, the Lawns Park and other reserves that are part of the trust, which recently celebrated saving the ancient hay meadows at Morningside Farm near Royal Wootton Bassett.

A maintenance programme for the areas includes forming traditional hay meadows from grassland, as well as stripping existing unwanted vegetation from site and planting wildflowers.

Conservation grazing, using animals like Belted Galloway cattle and sheep may be introduced in certain places to improve biodiversity as well as help to maintain the sites.

Their hooves poach the soil and help rare meadow plants to become established.

Coun Sumner added: “I am particularly delighted we will be enhancing the meadows we already have by sowing and planting new wildflowers.

“We have already planted wildflowers on some of our roundabouts and I am keen we boost our local ecosystems by ensuring they form part of the landscaping for the junction improvements at the New Eastern Villages.”

The Forest Meadows Project will provide support to any existing community groups already managing the sites as well as helping them to recruit new members.

Where there aren’t currently any such groups, the council and WWT will work with parish councils to establish new community organisations, for example at Mouldon Hill Country Park.

WWT chief executive Dr Gary Mantle said: “We are delighted to enter into this three-year project with Swindon Borough Council, and look forward to working with parishes and local groups.

“This comes at a time of increasing public concern about and demand for action on a range of critical environmental issues, including loss of wildlife, the decline in insects, particularly pollinators, climate change and a heightened awareness of the importance of the natural world for our health and wellbeing.

“The trust has been active in managing land for wildlife in Swindon for over 40 years and community engagement has always been at the heart of this effort.

He said: “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to consolidate this effort in a focussed way through the Forest Meadows Project.”