PRINCES Risborough Countryside Group have met to discuss a new footpath leading up to Brush Hill after receiving a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Members of the group met with Wycombe District Council rangers to determine a route for a new footpath to give people in the town improved access to the nature reserve.

The £28,100 grant will also be used to erect a permanent viewpoint at the top of the hill to help visitors identify important features of the landscape.

Roger Newman, conservation officer for the Risborough Countryside Group, hopes the footpath will be underway in the next few months.

He said: "We will try to get the footpath started in the winter.

"We are hoping we can do some work this autumn and then do as much as we can this year."

Brush Hill was established as a local nature reserve in 1997 by Wycombe District Council and is supported with the help of the local community through the Risborough Countryside Group. Mr Newman added: "Brush Hill is important to the local community in many ways. We hope more people will get to know the reserve."