Saving Sharphill Wood ...Again

Back in the mid-noughties, long before I was politely arm-twisted into agreeing to become vice-chair of The Friends of Sharphill Wood, I stood one Sunday morning in a field joining hands with a line of fellow protesters. The cause: a plan by David Wilson Homes and landowner Brian Wells to place several hundred houses around the wood, a nature reserve on the brow of a hill to the south of Nottingham.

That battle was lost in 2009 - permission for 1,200 homes was agreed - but the threat to the wood was minimised to some degree by the adoption of a mitigation plan.


Winter 2012/13

In the event no houses have been built; the developer has just done enough to keep the planning permission alive.

Now, by 2028, Rushcliffe Borough Council are proposing to increase the houses at this development by 500! The agreed country park will be smaller, houses will be closer to the wood, and the built-up area will be wider to the north and west of the wood in space which was going to be left open for fauna to move to and from the wood safely. The mitigation plan has been torn up.

Appallingly only 8 of the 50 councillors invited to attend guided walks in the wood bothered to come ...and most of these were people who already knew the wood and were fully aware of the implications of this plan. Most Rushcliffe councillors live a long way from West Bridgford and don't care two hoots about what happens in it.


Early June morning

Why is Sharphill Wood important?  It is a designated Site of Importance for Nature Conservation but it isn't very old, doesn't have any particularly important species or historical identity. It does have some tall, quite grand oak and ash trees, beech and lime, and two excellent specimens of wild cherry. But mostly it is just an unspoilt piece of quiet space for humans, animals and plants to exist.


Wild cherry

To have such a place within walking distance of so many people (Edwalton and a significant part of West Bridgford) - and accessible by bus and foot from most of Nottingham - is a rare amenity enjoyed by many and deserving of protection. The new development means that it will almost certainly lose its badgers and much of the other wildlife and become steadily more degraded and lifeless. In 15 years I shall be 77, but for those to come we have to do our best to modify these proposals. To put the work in to register objections and reasons for these objections and make alternative proposals. All before the end of the consultation period on August 9. More info here.


Footnote: There is currently planning permission for some 400,000 new homes already granted by UK councils. But builders are refusing to make use of these on the grounds that they can't make enough profit building the affordable housing that is really needed (see http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/18/thousands-affordable-homes-axed-councils). Time to take this (and many other) vital services away from entities whose only raison d'etre is profit rather than social value.