The Ock Valley Walk project in Abingdon has moved another step forward with the opening of a new one-mile Jubilee footpath.

Another tree has also been planted as the scheme to create an educational wildlife centre begins to takes shape.

The footpath is a joint financial venture between the town council and the Vale of White Horse District Council, and the official opening was performed by the mayor Audrey Tamplin and the chairman of the district council, Briony Newport. Both praised the scheme.

The project to rescue the Ock Valley walk from a jungle of undergrowth is being mastermined by Peter Green, a district and town councillor.

It is a partnership supported by the two councils, the international environment body Earthwatch, the Millennium Commission and local schools.

More than 130 trees have been planted.

The first batch of 60 hawthorn, blackthorn, black poplar and silver birch were planted earlier this month by families and children from the John Blandy primary school in Southmoor, helped by local councillors and members of Fitzharrys Women's Institute.

The plan is to turn the area into a local nature reserve and an educational resource for the town.