Bristol Zoo releases new Wild Place plan images

Bristol Zoo closed its Clifton site and plans to move to Wild Place in South Gloucestershire

New images of how Bristol Zoo could look when it moves to its new site north of the city have been released.

The zoo is due to move from the site it occupied in Clifton for 186 years to a new home at Wild Place, near Cribbs Causeway.

The images show a central African forests area, and learning campus and a new entrance to the site.

The move from Clifton has raised some opposition with campaigners asking the zoo to remain at its historic home.

The new site will have a learning campus, zoo bosses say

Plans have been submitted to transform the old zoo site into a conservation space.

The zoo closed in September and the sale of its former site will fund its move to the Wild Place Project.

Zoo bosses said they were moving to South Gloucestershire to "safeguard its future".

Under the new plans, its current 12-acre site in Clifton will be made accessible to the public for free, for the first time since opening in 1836.

Dr Justin Morris, the chief executive of the Bristol Zoological Society, said the images "show how animals will have the space to thrive"

Campaigners are calling on the zoo to stay at its Clifton site and not move to Wild Place

He added that "future generations will come face-to-face with amazing animals in nature, as well as learn more about our charity's critical conservation and education work, to protect at-risk species and habitats".

But campaigners say the move to Wild Place is "not inevitable" and have called on the zoo's managers to change their minds.

Tom Jones, founder of Save Bristol Zoo Gardens, said: "I was really disillusioned by the closure of the zoo.

"I think that the two sites of Bristol Zoo and the Wild Place are mutually complementary and not exclusive and there is every way they could find a way to keep both of them open."

Tom Jones has been campaigning to save the zoo

He continued: "I don't think it's too late, they don't have planning permission and they don't have anyone to buy the site.

"We are asking Bristol City Council to defer planning permission so there is more time to decide what happens to this iconic site."

A public meeting has been called at 19:30 GMT at Christ Church in Clifton.

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