A NEW bridge has been constructed between two fields in Wellington Basins as the town council continues its work to make the area fully accessible.

The council took effective ownership three years ago with a 150-year lease of 64 acres of the Basins land between Tonedale and Rockwell Green and Westford, adding to a two-acre field off Linden Hill which it purchased the previous year.

Each of the 12 interlocked areas of land has since been given its own name and the council has pledged to continue to make the Basins available for public use and to promote recreation, healthy lifestyles, and local food growing.

Now, it has connected Great Meadow and Great Oak Field with a wooden footbridge built in less than a week by its open spaces team supported by contractor Mike Fletcher.

The fields were previously separated by a former watercourse which was difficult to cross for people with mobility issues, particularly in wet weather.

A council spokesperson said: “We are happy that these fields are now connected by a safe pedestrian bridge that will allow people using the area for leisure and recreation to access places more freely.

“In the coming weeks the railings of this bridge will be stained to a dark wood, and gravel will be installed at either end.”

The council has also installed a new information board in Great Meadow which features information on a woodland creation project in the Basins area undertaken with the Woodland Trust in the winter of 2024-25.

Across the past three years, volunteers have helped the council to plant more than 3,000 trees, while another 1,000 have been planted in other areas of the town, including the creation of ‘mini forests’.

‘Tree nurseries’ have also been created with planters used to grow saplings until they mature enough to be transferred to Basins sites.