City’s viaduct nature reserve shows what could be done with Broad Marsh

WHEN I joined the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust team in 1993, I worked exclusively in Nottingham. Unlike many traditional “County” trusts back then, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust understood that the wildlife on people’s doorsteps was important simply because it was the wildlife that people were able to experience each day.

Whilst the protection of rare and threatened species was a key focus for the Trust, so too was ensuring people in urban areas had access to natural greenspaces and opportunities to connect with nature.

This work was championed by Nottingham Urban Wildlife Scheme (NUWS), a pioneering and ambitious wing of the Trust which ensured that communities could access wildlife on their patch and policy makers were left in no doubt about the value of the wildlife in our fine city.

One of the most innovative projects that NUWS worked on in its early years was the creation of what was billed as the UK’S first aerial nature reserve – atop the isolated old railway viaduct on Collin Street in the shadow of the Broadmarsh shopping centre.

Whilst no-one could have reasonably foretold the return of trams to Nottingham back then, it was clear that this structure, sitting on a main route into the city, would be redeveloped at some stage. Such was the antipathy, even in the late 1980s to the hulking Broadmarsh centre, and its impact on our cityscape, that people were already imagining a better future for the area.

Whilst accepting that the viaduct would be redeveloped at some stage, Nottingham City Council had taken the creative step of tasking Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, through NUWS, to establish a nature area on it. After surveys to see what plants were thriving on the old limestonerich track bed and what wild creatures were already making use of the space, a plan was hatched. Grasses and wild flowers were sown to attract bees and butterflies and nest boxes were installed to benefit species such as black redstart, then still regularly spotted in Nottingham, and kestrel. The resulting wildlife haven remained perched above the busy street below until the structure saw new life with the arrival of the modern trams.

Fast forward more than 30 years and Nottingham is once again presented with an opportunity to do something quite unique, ironically just yards away from the old viaduct, which could see wildlife habitats emerge from old manmade structures. The concept of incorporating wildlife habitat at all levels, including on top of sections of the shopping centre’s supporting frame, is central to vision presented by the Broadmarsh Advisory Group in December, but on a vastly different scale to that created on the old viaduct. Whilst some habitat would be out of people’s reach, in common with the old viaduct, other areas such as the Green Heart would provide opportunities for people and nature to thrive side by side.

In addition to scale, what must set the plans for incorporating nature into the redevelopment of the Broadmarsh apart from what was created on the old viaduct, is permanency. Natural greenspace came through loud and clear as a key public demand during the Big Conversation consultation about the future of the Broadmarsh and the new vision is both exciting and ambitious in this regard.

Over thirty years on from helping create a small temporary aerial nature spot adjacent to the Broadmarsh, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and NUWS are committed to helping turning the vision of a greener, wilder, Broad Marsh into a reality with wildlife-rich habitat and greenspaces established as a permanent part of the area’s transformation.