Network Rail and the Staffordshire Alliance have found an innovative way to use leftover wood from the project, by gifting logs to Weaver Primary School in Nantwich.
The Staffordshire Alliance is working to deliver a £250 million programme of improvements in the area, which will provide faster, more reliable services and increase capacity on the busy West Coast main line.
On the 20th March, members of the project team visited the local primary school to donate logs, log stumps and assorted wood for the children to use, returning on 24th March with further materials.
Overall, the project gifted around four tonnes of wood to the forest school, which will be used to assist in outdoor activities with the pupils.
The trees were removed to make way for a new railway flyover near the village of Norton Bridge, which will remove the last remaining bottleneck on the West Coast Main Line.
Matt Clark, alliance manager, commented “The Staffordshire Alliance is keen to use all materials sustainably and working with Weaver Primary school has been a great way for us to achieve this whilst supporting the local community”.
As a forest school, Weaver primary encourages pupils to initiate their own learning through hands-on practical experiences in the natural world around them.
They will be using the donated wood to create a ‘fire circle’ as well as to build dens and other outdoor learning spaces.
Following the forest school ethos, these spaces will give the students areas to have fun and gain new skills in a practical, hands-on environment.