Nature park revamp

THE Leesbrook Nature Park is getting a £95,700 upgrade, with new tracks, bridges and steps.

The first phase will take in the area around Constantine Street, Oldham, which will be paid for from a variety of funds, such as the Community Forest, Environment Agency and Local Transport Plan.

The nature park runs from Greenacres Road to Abbeyhills Road in the Medlock Valley, and was built on former landfill sites, reclaimed in the 1960s.

Part of the site was the old Glen Mill, once used as a prisoner of war camp.

Woodland plantations were created in the early 1970s and bridleways and footpaths installed in the 1980s.

The popular local park gives people countryside access from an urban area, say managers, who plan to renew the bridle track, create new tracks and links via a network of new footpaths, steps and bridges, and install new access barriers at the entrances.