THE Trap Grounds in North Oxford – designated a Town Green after a hard-fought community campaign – will soon be open to more visitors after a new walkway is completed.

Campaigners fought for years to prevent Oxford City Council from building social housing on the site.

Now the council has joined forces with the Friends of the Trap Grounds to provide a new walkway improving access to the popular wildlife habitat.

The council and the Friends received a £16,000 grant from the Waste Recycling Group, while the Friends received £5,000 from Awards for All, part of the Big Lottery Fund.

The walkway and viewing platform, made from recycled plastic, will give everyone the chance to enjoy the reed bed and its wildlife.

Friends spokesman Catherine Robinson said: “We are very pleased to be working in partnership with the city council for the benefit of wildlife and the local community.

“For a number of years, the Friends and the council were on opposite sides of the fence but thankfully that is no longer the case.

“The council’s countryside team has been particularly supportive, working hard to improve the Trap Grounds, while at the same time preserving the wildlife value of the site.”

Ms Robinson said the grounds offered people a chance to watch wildlife, get some fresh air, and enjoy peace and quiet.

She said: “Parts of it are inaccessible in wet weather and this walkway will improve access for everyone, but particularly wheelchair-users and families with pushchairs.”

Bob Timbs, the city councillor responsible for leisure and sport, said: “The grants are fantastic for the community and mean that everyone will be able to have a chance to visit this area.

“This will give children a chance to get close to wildlife that often they may only see on the television.”

The Trap Grounds, off Frenchay Road, is home to increasingly scarce species.

Once completed, the walkway will help people to see water voles, water rails, reed buntings and sedge warblers.

The work will be completed by the end of this month.

In 2007, Ms Robinson was awarded the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s top honour, following a four-year battle to save the Trap Grounds from development.

The same year city councillors admitted there was no prospect of building affordable homes on the land, near Port Meadow, after pursuing plans to build 45 houses.

The victory followed a 2006 Lords decision to register the land as a Town Green.