WORK has commenced on a new innovative 27-hectare nature initiative on the edge of Wellington.

The project will connect two linked sites — The Trinity Nature Reserve and the Eastcombe Fields Nature Area.

It will form the final piece of the Wellington Green Corridor: a long-planned ‘green wedge’ designed to protect open space, improve water quality and connect important wildlife sites for decades to come.

Together, the sites include grassland, woodland, hedgerows, lakes and wetlands, all designed sensitively around existing local ecological networks to improve habitat connectivity for protected species.

It is part of a recently approved Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) scheme which guarantees long-term management and protection of these habitats.

The project is being led by local landowners KS Coles in partnership with Greenshank Environmental, who have helped design a scheme that delivers both ecological and development benefits. The intention is for the site to be designated as a Local Nature Reserve in future.

Kim Connor Streich, CCO of Greenshank Environmental, said: “This is a genuine long-term boost for Wellington. The Coles family have created something special here – space for wildlife, space for nature recovery and a real asset for the local area. What I love about this project is its legacy: these habitats will be protected for decades, giving future generations cleaner rivers, more wildlife and a stronger connection to the natural landscape around them.”

The sites are also helping to unblock stalled housing and infrastructure projects by tackling the issue of nutrient neutrality. This is one of the first UK nutrient-mitigation schemes to use an innovative drainage-ditch system to mitigate phosphorus pollution.

As these measures improve the local river environment, other developers can now buy BNG units or nutrient-mitigation credits from the Wellington schemes to offset their own projects. The team says this is vital for unlocking housing sites that cannot proceed until they meet important environmental requirements.