A NEW lease of life is being planned for the land behind the Co-op store in Cam.

And until the beginning of November villagers have the opportunity to state their views about the future use and management of the site, discovered a few years ago to be remnants of a rare habitat.

In 1998 Cam Parish Council asked Stroud Valleys Project to survey the area.

Stroud Valleys Project and affiliated Cam Wildlife Group looked at vegetation and were excited to find most of the site is semi-improved neutral grassland.

Unimproved neutral grassland is a rare habitat and there are only 10 such sites left in Gloucestershire. Neutral grasslands are also know as hayn meadows and they used to be common habitat thousands of years ago, occurring alongside rivers where they acted as floodplains.

Because the habitat was flat the land was ideal farming land and so was changed to grow crops or for grazing - a process which started in the Bronze Age.

It is estimated that by 1984 some 97 per cent of natural grassland had been lost and is still being destroyed at a rate of up to ten per cent per year. The UK Biodiversity Steering Group, a national partnership of organisations, estimates there are only 15,000 hectares left.

The site behind the Co-op is not perfect neutral grassland and has been semi-improved, which means it has been disturbed or had chemicals added to it at some point.

It has also been invaded by aggressive plants and shrubs, such as nettles and coarse grasses, which have smothered areas of the neutral grassland. It is uncertain if the site can be changed back into pristine neutral grassland but it should be possible to bring back much of the natural vegetation.

Wetland is also a rare habitat in Gloucestershire so Stroud Valleys Project hopes to enhance what wetland there is. There is also good belt of trees and mature hedgerow alongside three sides, which is important for wildlife and creates a corridor linking the site to other green spaces and the countryside nearby.

All this variety of wildlife habitat means it is an important site and with lots of potential as a place where both schools and people could see nature at close quarters.

Once the importance of the site was realised, the parish council asked the owners, Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-operative Society, if it could lease and manage the land. The owners agreed, and now Stroud Valleys Project is helping the council to look after the site.

A period of community consultation is under way, asking people how they would like to see the site looked after. There has already been a display of proposed plans outside the Co-op and there will be another during Saturday and Sunday, November 1 and 2 (11am-4pm). In between the 'roving' display will be at different sites around the parish so that as many people as possible will be able to comment.

Pictured: The site behind Cam Co-op GJA964H03