The old railway path from Melton Road to Boundary Road is now a statutory nature reserve, with Meadow Park, East Leake, and Springdale Wood, East Bridgford.

The Green Line, the old railway path through West Bridgford, is now a Local Nature Reserve. Rushcliffe Borough Council announced the declaration on Friday 16 October. Two other sites gained the same status:

  • Meadow Park, East Leake, about 18 hectares
  • Springdale Wood, East Bridgford, 1.4 hectares

(Rushcliffe Borough Council, 16 October 2026)

The borough had eight Local Nature Reserves before. It now has eleven.

What the Green Line is

The Green Line runs along part of the former railway between Melton Road and Boundary Road. It has been a nature area and public open space since 1988. The Nottinghamshire Biological and Geological Records Centre already lists it as a Local Wildlife Site.

The council owns the land. Day-to-day care is shared with volunteers, under a service level agreement, the Cabinet report says. The volunteers, who call themselves the Friends of the Green Line, meet on Sunday mornings from September to February. They cut back the summer growth and do conservation work, and they provide the tools. (Friends of the Green Line, Get Volunteering listing)

All three groups that look after the new reserves asked for the designation, according to the report.

The other two sites

Meadow Park in East Leake, about seven miles south of West Bridgford, is former farmland given to the council in 1995 as a permanent leisure space. It became a Local Wildlife Site on 1 May 2024. East Leake Parish Council and the Friends of Meadow Park volunteers have run it day to day since 2009.

Springdale Wood in East Bridgford, about seven miles east, was planted by the Woodland Trust in November 1999 on former arable land. It was one of 200 “Woods on Your Doorstep” across the UK. The parish council took a 999-year lease in 2016. Because the council does not own the wood, it had to agree a management deal with the parish council and the Woodland Trust before it could declare it.

What changes, and what does not

The council’s Cabinet approved the move on 23 June. The report it considered sets out what the status means. (Cabinet report, 23 June 2026, item 8)

  • Protection from development. Local Nature Reserves are statutory sites. Once declared, local planning policies protect them from development.
  • The boundary is fixed. Any change to it needs Natural England’s approval.
  • Nothing changes on the ground. Ownership, access and day-to-day management stay as they are. The report says there is no direct cost.
  • Byelaws are possible but unlikely. The council can make byelaws controlling how people use a reserve, but the report calls that “a last resort” if problems arise.

Natural England was consulted. On the Green Line and Meadow Park, it said the designation “will ensure the future management of the sites for the benefit of the local community in terms of outdoor recreation and for wildlife and green infrastructure connectivity”.

Cllr Rob Inglis, the Cabinet member for environment, said: “These sites create even more havens for wildlife and build on the borough’s current greenery with even more investment and protection, allowing habitats in these locations to thrive further.”

What it means for you

  • You can use the Green Line exactly as before. It stays a public path and open space.
  • It is now much harder to build on. That matters for a strip of green running through the middle of the town.
  • Want to help? The Friends of the Green Line take new volunteers through Get Volunteering. The working season runs to February.
  • Other reserves nearby, including The Hook in Lady Bay and Sharphill Wood in Edwalton, are on Natural England’s register of Local Nature Reserves.

Sources: Rushcliffe Borough Council news release, 16 October 2026; Cabinet report and printed decisions, Designation of New Local Nature Reserves, 23 June 2026; Friends of the Green Line volunteering listing.