‘State-of-the-art’ snow leopard habitat at Chester Zoo given go-ahead

Exciting new plans to launch a state-of-the-art snow leopard habitat at Chester Zoo have been released after being given the green light.

The North West’s hugely popular visitor attraction and animal conservation had its planning application given the rubber stamp by Cheshire West and Chester Council on Thursday March 16th. The zoo plans to build a new animal holding facility with on-show and off-show animal enclosures, and a public viewing area.

It will be situated at the eastern edge of the site in an existing enclosure. It currently houses a Blesbok habitat and Wetland Bird Nursery, which are being relocated to the Conservation Breeding and Management Area (CBMA), located on Caughall Road.

A statement submitted from Chester Zoo with the planning application read: “The plan is designed to enhance our position as one of the world’s best conservation, animal and leisure attractions between now and 2030.

“Building on the success of our ground-breaking islands habitats which first opened in 2015 to bring South East Asia to life in Cheshire, the remainder of the zoo will be sensitively transformed through the creation of large scale themed zones.

“As a leading tourist attraction, it is imperative that we continue to invest and improve our facilities for excellent education, animal welfare and visitor satisfaction. The snow leopard is an iconic species with significant public draw and should help drive visitation to the zoo during a period with no other major visitor developments taking place.

“The intention is to construct the enclosure on an existing animal habitat with no increase to staff numbers or traffic as part of this application.”

Highways officer Paul Parry requested a condition be added to the planning consent for full details of the phasing of the demolition and construction traffic for the development to be provided prior to the works.

He stated: “It is considered that the overall proposals would not give rise to such a significant increase in the level of typical daily zoo visitor traffic that would have an additional severe impact on the operation or safety of the local highway network.

“There will be construction traffic related to the build out period and this will result in construction vehicles using Caughall Road to access the site. Whilst this will have an impact on Caughall Road it is considered that, as it will be finite construction period, a refusal reason based on construction traffic impacts would not be robust grounds for a refusal.

“I would expect to see a Construction Traffic Management Plan in place to set out how such traffic and its impacts would be managed and mitigated for.

“I would expect such a plan to have control measures set out within it to avoid construction vehicle movements, including larger vehicles undertaking deliveries etc. at the school drop off and pick up periods for Acresfield Primary School.”