Ref. 26245-05A CANAL nature reserve has reopened after a £900,000 renovation. Rushey Platt Canal-side Park, part of the former Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal, is now officially open to the public.

The site, which is just off Mill Lane between the M4 and Okus, now boasts just under a mile of fully restored canalside, a wetland wildlife area and a children's play area.

The canalside has been fully restored for fishermen, cyclists, walkers and even birdwatchers.

Swindon Mayor Derek Benfield led the opening ceremony yesterday.

He said: "I remember my childhood days here fondly playing around the canal and the wetland area we called the bog."

The restoration was a joint effort between Great Western Community Forest, the Wiltshire Wild-life Trust, Thames Water and the Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal Trust and Swindon Council.

It was funded by a £500,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, with £200,000 each from Swindon Council and Thames Water.

Ed Stanford, the council's head of landscape and countryside, said: "The project has brought together a range of groups who have enabled part of Swindon's heritage to be restored as well as conserving an important wildlife site."

Beavan's Bridge spans the canal and has been restored so it closely resembles how it looked in the 1940s. The Wetland conservation area, known as the Fen, encompasses hundreds of flowers, willow herbs and orchids.

David Viner, from the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: "It is a treat to have a nature reserve in an urban environment."