Improvements promised at 'rundown' nature reserve

4 hours ago

News image — Complaints have been made about the boardwalks at Choppington Community Woods

Carole Neesam A wood has a boardwalk running through it, but it is in a poor state of repair, there is an information board to one side — Complaints have been made about the boardwalks at Choppington Community Woods

A nature reserve is "rundown" and parts of it are unsafe, a new group set up to support it says.

Mary Murphy, chair of Friends of Choppington Woods, says the site between Ashington and Blyth in Northumberland has "great potential" but "needs urgent investment".

"The boardwalks in one part of the site are rotten and visitors tell us they are dangerous," she said.

Northumberland County Council says it is developing "improvement plans" which would "make the site accessible to all".

A former coal-mining site, the council acquired the land in 1971, five years after the pit closed.

It managed it with a previous Friends of Choppington Woods group whose numbers dwindled.

Murphy, who lives next to the nature reserve, founded a new group in 2025.

"There has been a lot of storm damage, and the council has tried to keep on top of the immediate safety issues, but the site has become rundown," she said.

Christine Westerback A group of people in their middle-ages and older stand in front of a board which says Choppington Community Woods. — Friends of Choppington Woods are working with Northumberland County Council to improve the nature reserve

Carole Neesam, chair of Bedlington and District Red Squirrel Group, visits the woods daily to try and "protect the reds we have left".

She says vandalism and fires are also problems at the site.

Carole Neesam A red squirrel is running across a woodland area — Choppington Woods is the home to a community of red squirrels

"There used to be three wooden benches but they've been pushed over, and two have disappeared and one is pushed up against the tree," she said.

She says the boardwalks are "definitely not safe".

"They have got mesh on them but they're all broken you wouldn't want to walk on them," she said.

Carole Neesam A section of boardwalk is shown with a big hole in the centre — Many visitors say the boardwalk is so rotten it is dangerous

A spokesperson for Northumberland County Council said: "Improvement plans include the removal and replacement of the boardwalk and the resurfacing of sections of path to make the site accessible for all.

"We're working to ensure this green space continues to offer residents and visitors the opportunity to get out into nature."

Murphy says the group has "big plans" for the "very well-used" site.

"First of all we'd like to see it made accessible, the pathways made safe, we'd like them more family-friendly with nature trails.

"Perhaps we could even have events there a couple of times a year, get the whole community along," she added.