Helping volunteers get stuck-in to help vital nature reserve

A team of volunteers from our West Midlands region has been praised for helping restore vital heathland at a Dawley nature reserve.

More than a dozen willing men and women from the Stafford Park-based company put aside their house building duties for the day on 14 July to join a local volunteer force. The aim was to re-open an overgrown access track and increase valuable heathland growing space at the Langley Fields Nature Reserve on Duce Drive in Dawley.

Tasks included removing encroaching brambles and other invasive growth, to increase growing space in the resident heathland, trimming edges to improve pathway access and removing waste materials.

Welcoming their efforts, Rick Shaw, green infrastructure project officer of Telford & Wrekin Council said: "The health of our fantastic nature reserves is greatly supported by the key work of volunteers. The team who kindly came forward from Persimmon Homes is a great example of that. Thanks to their hard work we now have restored a valuable piece of heathland.

“This area will now support a wider range of biodiversity including pollinating insects and reptiles. I cannot speak more highly of how committed to the task the team were and how they conducted themselves at all times on the project.”

On behalf of Persimmon Homes, deputy regional managing director Daniel Hassall said: “It is central to our ethos to contribute to the overall environmental wellbeing in those areas where we are developing new homes. As well as achieving this through well-planned, eco-friendly sites, we also encourage our teams to take part in community initiatives that benefit the wider area. Our recent volunteering work at Langley Fields Nature Reserve is a prime example of this commitment and we are delighted to have made such a positive impact.”