The location for a new ‘zoo without bars’ in Worcestershire has been revealed.
Birmingham teacher Martin Blyth has quit his job and sold his house to make his Heart of England Wildlife Park dream a reality.
The plan is for the walk-through safari park to be constructed on a 45-acre site at Forge Mill, in Redditch, within a corner of Arrow Valley Country Park, near to Bordesley Abbey and the Forge Mill Needle Museum.
It aims to have ‘spacious exhibits for threatened species such as endangered zebra, ostrich and African lions’.
Winding paths and landscaping will give visitors the impression they are wondering through the African savannah, planners have said.
And it will also 'protect the native species', already at the site.
Mr Blyth, who announced the project in August, said: “I’ve been looking for a site nationally for the last three years, but since late March we’ve been working on plans to build Heart of England Wildlife Park in Redditch.
“Our preferred site is in the north of Redditch at Forge Mill. We’ve been in constant discussion about the viability of this site and we are waiting for pre-application advice from Historic England before we can advance further.
“The proposed site is close to the nationally significant Bordesley Abbey ruins and we are keen to work with Historic England to ensure that Heart of England Wildlife Park can play a significant role in safeguarding the monument for future generations whilst also increasing attendance figures to the site and improving the educational role it plays in the community.”
The planned site had previously been earmarked for a zoo in the 1960s as part of the Abbey Park master plan – and is in an area known as Abbey Meadows. If Historic England does not allow the zoo to go ahead at the proposed site Mr Blyth said he has ‘two contingency sites’.
He estimates the new site could attract "up to 100,000 visitors" in its first year and as well as the animal enclosures, will feature a restaurant and gift shop, which could open ‘as soon as Easter 2021’, subject to planning approval.
He has now appointed Matt Hartley of Zoo and Wildlife Solutions as the project’s principal zoological consultant.
Mr Hartley trained at the Royal Veterinary College and had worked at some of the country’s top zoos including at Chester, London, Twycross and further afield at Johannesburg Zoo in South Africa.
The aim is for the Heart of England Wildlife Park to work closely with schools and for it also to work with conservation partners to help "safeguard endangered wildlife species from the threat of extinction in the wild".
Mr Blyth is offering the chance to wannabe ‘zoo tycoons’ to back the project and have a say in how it is shaped, through an online Crowdfunder fundraising scheme, which has so far raised £44,000, towards its £150,000 target.
He said: “I know there are millions of people out there who have wanted to open their own zoo and this might be as a result of playing simulation games such as Zoo Tycoon or Planet Zoo on the PC.
“I hope those video game enthusiasts and animal lovers will embrace this once in a lifetime opportunity to have a direct input in building a world class zoo in the real world.”
The next step is to finalise proposals which will be submitted Redditch Borough Council, with the opening date a little over six months away.
