Golf course rewilding project nears completion

A vast new nature reserve is ready to welcome members of the public

A new nature reserve created on the former greens and fairways of a municipal golf course will be opened to the public later this month.

The ribbon is set to be cut on the 25-acre Pewit Coronation Meadows rewilding project on 24 June followed by a guided walk.

Changes to Ilkeston's disused Pewit municipal golf course began in August 2024 to create a patchwork of "open mosaic habitats" to encourage a variety of wildlife.

The Erewash Borough Council-owned course had shut in 2022 due to "substantial financial operating losses".

More than 1,500 trees and shrubs have been planted including oaks and sweet chestnuts, said the council.

Hundreds of saplings have been planted across the site

A network of new paths and picnic benches have been installed, and wildflower butterfly and bug banks planted.

It will link to the wider Nutbrook Trail plus the green spaces of Straws Bridge, Manor Floods and Pewit Carr.

The £500,000 project has been funded by central government and businesses involved in the redevelopment of the old Stanton ironworks.

The council said Natural England and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust had both backed the project.

In February 2024, the council had planned to sell a nine-acre slice of the site for housing but after a campaign said the development proposal "ignored the wishes of local people" a decision was made to rewild the entire site.