Standing Up For Our Wildlife

Threatened Fields Next to Bottom Copse 

Hedge End Town Council has a chance on Wednesday to stand up for our wildlife and fast-disappearing countryside.

The amended version of the Borough Council's Draft Local Plan includes a new site for an industrial or business estate right up to the edge of Bottom Copse in Woodhouse Lane.  I have already blogged about the presence of grass snakes in the fields that would disappear under tarmac and concrete under the Lib Dems' plans.

I have a motion for discussion at full council this week, calling on the Town Council to oppose the Borough's plans for one of the last bits of countryside in Hedge End.  The Town Council is the custodian of Bottom Copse, which is a designated Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC).

Combined with the plans for a huge housing estate to the north of the copse, an industrial estate to the south will inevitably change the nature of the SINC, making it less attractive as a habitat and wildlife corridor, especially to large mammals and birds of prey.

It will also be more at risk of disturbance, incursion and pollution.

The Draft Local Plan policy on biodiversity calls for the protection, conservation and enhancement  of areas subject to international, European, national, and local nature conservation designations.

It is hard to see how having an industrial estate on its doorstop will enhance this particular area.

Plans for Travelling Showpeople

Also on the agenda is my motion that the Borough's proposed site for travelling showpeople off Kanes Hill is not appropriate and would be better planned as part of the new housing and recreational development off Woodhouse Lane.

See also: Green Fields: Further Lib Dem Raids