An eight-acre stretch of farmland, bought to extend a green corridor for wildlife and recreation in Dereham, was inspected by councillors last week. Dereham's town council invested �52,000 to secure the plot which lies alongside the north of Shillings Lane and adjoins the large area of common land at Neatherd Moor to the north-east of the town.

An eight-acre stretch of farmland, bought to extend a green corridor for wildlife and recreation in Dereham, was inspected by councillors last week.

Dereham's town council invested �52,000 to secure the plot which lies alongside the north of Shillings Lane and adjoins the large area of common land at Neatherd Moor to the north-east of the town.

It is hoped a proposed new cemetery on a field to the east of the football ground at Aldiss Park will eventually complete an unbroken link to Etling Green.

It is hoped that combining green spaces will enlarge the recreational resource for dog-walkers and nature-lovers, as well as allowing wildlife to flourish.

The idea was generated by a Green Infrastructure Study for Dereham, carried out in association with district and county councils, which now forms part of Breckland's local planning framework.

Town clerk Tony Needham said: 'One of the things the document explores was how to link up existing green areas so wildlife could move from one area to another, rather than living in isolated pockets. Bats and owls need flight lines and insects and butterflies need these green corridors to move around.

'One of the things we wanted to do was link Neatherd Moor with Etling Green. This land north of Shillings Lane came up for sale last summer and the landowner was very generous in splitting off this eight-acre section for us.

'We are hoping to link everything together to have this big green area for which will stretch from the Neatherd along Shillings Lane to Etling Green. It will be a really important wildlife corridor and public open space for generations to come.'

Town councillors visited the site on Friday to survey the land and see the progress on work to erect new fencing.