Natural Vision Planning Application
22 December 2009
CHESTER Zoo has submitted planning applications for its ambitious Natural Vision project.
Following extensive consultations, detailed plans for the Heart of Africa biodome together with expansion of the main entrance and car park have been submitted to Cheshire West and Chester Council.
This hybrid planning application includes detailed drawings for the first phase. Future phases may include a hotel and conservation college.
The Heart of Africa building is a 34m high tropical biodome that will house an African rainforest-themed sanctuary for a band of Gorillas, a large troop of chimpanzees, Okapi and other species.
Prof Gordon McGregor Reid, Director General of Chester Zoo, said: “It has taken a number of years for us to get to this point today and we would like to thank the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and a range of other major stakeholders including the local community and our visitors for their feedback and support.
“For us, a key part of the planning process has been engaging with a number of different organizations together with a series of wide-ranging public consultations in order to gain support.
“The public consultations enabled us to take a view on how the development could help us meet local aspirations and also to address any concerns that may arise.
“We have submitted thoroughly researched and detailed plans which will now go through the normal planning procedures."
For further details of Chester Zoo's Natural Vision plans please download our Public Consultation presentation as below, which have been split into 3 documents to minimise download times. The display boards were displayed during our series of public meetings held in July 2009.
Our full planning application can be accessed through a series of 'large' files which can be downloaded from Natural Vision Planning Application. Due to their memory size we recommend that you use Adobe Reader Version 8 or above to download the files. Adobe Reader can be downloaded free from www.adobe.com