WORK has begun to carve a path through a wilderness dubbed the 'jungle' as a councillor assured residents that the plans were very much alive.

Part of Woodmancote, an overgrown area in Warndon, has already been cleared although the aim is to leave some of the site in its more natural state as a haven for wildlife.

Worcester News: CLEARED: This part of Woodmancote has been cleared and is being maintained - it was previously overgrown and a site of fly-tipping CLEARED: This part of Woodmancote has been cleared and is being maintained - it was previously overgrown and a site of fly-tipping (Image: James Connell/Newsquest)

The part already cleared had become a tangled wilderness of brambles, nettles and fly-tipped rubbish.

However, it has been recognised that to clear the site entirely would not be in the best interests of wildlife, including hedgehogs which are understood to hibernate there. 

Cllr Jill Desayrah, a city councillor for Warndon, attended the area on Thursday and gave assurances that work would yield results soon and people would begin to notice the difference in the Spring.

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In the meantime, she is encouraging residents to join the Woodmancote Wednesday Club which meets weekly at the site at 10am. Cllr Desayrah has urged other volunteers to come forward to help at the land, owned by Sanctuary Housing as the club puts down roots.

Cllr Desayrah said: "We need more volunteers - the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust is supporting us and the city council community team. We are getting this off the ground and it would be really nice to have more community involvement."

Cllr Desayrah's intention is to persuade more young people, including more school children from Warndon, to take part and plant more wild flowers before Christmas.

"We have probably planted around 30 bulbs already - some daffodils - and we also have tulips to go in," she said.

The hope from Cllr Desayrah and other volunteers is that the flowers will form an attractive display around the borders of the site when they bloom in the Spring.

There is still an area of thick vegetation which is a haven for wildlife and the aim is to keep this in place but make a path through it. Sanctuary has already begun the work, carried out using hand tools.

"The intention is to leave most of this wild but, to make it more accessible, there will be a pathway cut through it," she said. "Some people find it hard to believe it will happen. But I'm sure it will happen - at the right time," said the Labour councillor.