Zoo submits £70m park proposals

[edesignuk]

Plans for a £70m world wildlife reserve are to be submitted by Bristol Zoo Gardens, for the city's outskirts.

The proposed 55 hectare National Wildlife Conservation Park (NWCP), will be the first conservation-led park in the UK.

The park has been designed to link ecosystems and conservation programmes from across the world.

Bristol Zoo Gardens director Dr Jo Gipps said submitting the plans for the park is an important step forward.

"Stepping through the gates of the Park, visitors will be transported from the normality of the Gloucestershire countryside to an amazing world of wildlife," he said.

Dr Gipps said the Park will aim to make the children of today, the conservationists of tomorrow.

The park will be divided into exhibit areas of Congo Tropical Forest, Sumatra Rainforest, British Ancient Woodland and Indian Ocean Coral Reef and will be home to tigers, black tip sharks, bonobos chimpanzees and brown bears.

The first phase of the Park would be scheduled to open in 2012.

BBC.

Haven't been to a zoo in years, maybe I'll wait some more until 2012 and see if they can pull this off, sounds good

 

[Blue Velvet]

Haven't been to a zoo in years

Are you sure?

 

[edesignuk]

Are you sure?

Touché!

 

[dllavaneras]

Haven't been to a zoo in years, maybe I'll wait some more until 2012 and see if they can pull this off, sounds good

Sounds great! I'd love to be able to visit it when it opens. Last time I went to my city's zoo I was depressed, it looked so... sad.

 

[0098386]

Last proper zoo I visited was Chester Zoo, but went to Knowsley Safari Park a few months back. 'sall good family fun. I'd probably pop round when this new place is built.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Ours is 287 hectares.

But seriously, check it out.

 

[R.Youden]

I have lived in Bristol for almost 5 years (now live near Oxford though) and I am still a member at Bristol Zoo. My girlfriend is a conservation biologist and has done research at Bristol Zoo, it is a fantastic place. If you want a zoo that you can comfortably see everything in a day then Bristol Zoo is the place to go. Other zoos, like London and Chester are far too big to see properly in a day (I have been to London Zoo 3 - 4 times in the last two years and I have still not been over the river!).

Now there was / is still some doubt over this wildlife park. About 2 years ago Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council commissioned a report into traffic congestion at Cribbs Causeway (a large shopping retail park just opposite the proposed wildlife park). The report was carried out by Atkins and they suggested a new junction on the M5 for Cribbs only traffic, relieving the current junction that serves both North Bristol and Cribbs. I am scheptical as to how this idea would work, but the proposal would take the road through the proposed site of the wildlife park.

Now Bristol Zoo are aware of these proposals and if the government agree that this road re-development is essential then the land could be bought under a compulsory purchase. The zoo are pressing ahead with work on the new site to increase its value incase the government determines that the new junction is essential.

The other controversy is that the new site is in a conservation area for newts and that habitat will be lost or severely compromised so the zoo are getting their own research staff to study the effects on the newts. It is a bit ironic that a conservation trust is building a new zoo in the middle of a conservation area!

This new wildlife park looks great, I just hope the government don't stop it before it takes shape.