A SPECTACULAR £20million wildlife habitat will be built on the Steart Peninsula after planners gave the scheme the green light.

The development will involve deliberate flooding of large swathes of land to create a new 488-acre visitor attraction on the peninsula, north-east of Stockland Bristol, near Bridgwater.

The habitat, which the Wetlands and Wildlife Trust will manage on behalf of the Environment Agency, will become a haven for birds and bird-watchers as well as acting as a coastal defence against the sea.

Sedgemoor District Council economy chief Cllr Anne Fraser said: “This is exciting news.

“The scheme will be a great asset to the area, not only for birds, but for people to get out and about and admire the natural beauty of this landscape.

“There will be considerable flood defences built into the scheme in a natural and complementary way.”

At the time of the application, Mike Caswell, chairman of the Stockland Bristol parish meeting, said: “In my view the development would be good with the extra flood protection but it will detract from the peace and tranquillity of the village. The roads here are very narrow and any large influx of visitors to an attraction could have a very big impact.”

The project forms part of a deal struck as some ‘community gain’ after the Bristol Port Authority was granted permission to build a container terminal in Avonmouth to accommodate large ships.

Building the terminal will involve taking over some land currently used by birds, so the Bristol Port Authority has been asked to build a ‘compensatory habitat’ elsewhere in the Bristol Channel.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “The Agency has to find alternative areas to create habitats to replace those being lost. The area’s at risk of flooding and the exist-ing sea defences offer a low level of flood protection.

“By moving the flood defences from their existing position we will create a more sustainable way to manage flood risk and an important inter-tidal habitat.”