Wetlands to be created alongside West Midlands road network

National Highways said it was "committed" to improving biodiversity alongside the road network

New wetland will be created as part of environmental schemes along the West Midlands road network.

National Highways and the Wildlife Trusts have launched the £6m Network for Nature programme to improve wildlife habitats.

It will include a new wetland created in the Lugg Valley close to the A49 in Herefordshire.

National Highways said it was "committed to significantly improving biodiversity".

The Lugg Valley plan will be a stepping stone for wildlife between Bodenham Lake nature reserve and Wellington Gravel Pits, it said, reducing pollution entering the River Lugg and creating drainage pools close to the A49.

An M5 Clean Rivers Project will also see a series of wetlands created to help prevent pollution from the motorway from entering the River Rea, which passes through Birmingham, and the River Stour in East Anglia.

Overall, 26 projects will develop and restore more than 1,700 acres (690 hectares) of woodlands, grasslands, peatlands and wetlands across every region of England, with three in the Midlands.

Andrew Jinks, from National Highways, said the organisation's work went "beyond operating, maintaining and improving roads". He said it was "investing in the environment and communities surrounding our network, helping to unlock the creation and enhancement of habitats".

Nikki Robinson, Network for Nature Programme Manager for The Wildlife Trusts, said historic road building programmes had "contributed to nature's decline, fragmenting wild spaces and causing environmental pollution".

However, she said this project would "help Wildlife Trusts throughout England carry out important nature conservation work" as well as "joining up vital places for wildlife".