Army teams help restore woodland

Off-road vehicles have badly damaged the paths in the woods

Members of the Royal School of Military Engineers in Kent are helping to restore woodland paths in the county.

They are assisting Bredhurst Woodland Action Group (BWAG) to repair one-and-a-half miles of footpaths damaged by off-road vehicles.

The army personnel, based in Chatham, are offering manpower and machinery and donating £2,000 towards materials.

Once the paths are repaired, fencing will be put up by BWAG volunteers to stop vehicles venturing on to them.

BWAG said if it had to pay the full amount for labour and materials it would have cost about £60,000 but that has been reduced to only £20,000.

The organisation secured further funding of £18,000 and also managed to get some materials at discount prices.

Once the paths are repaired the next stage of the project will be to publish walking guides to encourage people to explore the woodland.