1 week Ago By [email protected] (Lauren Monaghan)
Broxtowe’s council leader wants the area’s proposed new country park to drive up tourism and celebrate the borough’s mining heritage. Plans for a country park, named after Nottinghamshire writer D. H.
Lawrence, are proposed to connect Eastwood , Colliers Wood and Brinsley. This means visitors would be able to walk from the D. H.
Lawrence Museum to Brinsley Headstocks, allowing for a historical route for tourists. Councillor Milan Radulovic (Lab) first called for the creation of the park in a full Broxtowe Borough Council meeting last Wednesday (October 9). It would require the designation of greenbelt land between Eastwood and Brinsley, meaning no developments could be built, which would become part of the council’s Local Plan Part 2.
The park plans have been accepted in principle unanimously by the cabinet and the leader hopes a formal proposal for the park will be made around February. Councillor Radulovic said the new country park would further connect the borough’s mining heritage with a clear route. He said: “It will be a walk that will have national and international significance.
“We want to protect, preserve and enhance our environment for future generations, to attract visitors regionally, nationally and internationally to the area to help boost our local shops and businesses. The area is currently farmland, we want to designate it so it can’t be built on, preserve that open countryside to boost tourism and give people a real great walking scheme.” Councillor Radulovic also hopes a new park would encourage people to look into their own mining ancestry.
He added: “There will be a QR code and a website where they can research their family history, add photos- it’s an opportunity to research the whole history, the D.H. Lawrence works, the birthplace museum, Colliers Wood and Brinsley.
” In July this year, the council’s cabinet decided on a full oak replacement of Brinsley Headstocks, after they had been dismantled last December due to safety concerns. Since then, progress at the site has seen works begin to create new ponds to benefit the local wildlife and nationally endangered water vole. Grassland has also been cleared to create a meadow for wildflowers, bees and birds.
There will also be trees planted in a new community orchard to represent each miner who died at the site. The rebuilding of the headstocks is due to be completed towards the end of 2025. Councillor Radulovic added he hopes the new country park could be approved and completed within the next year.
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