Hi Dave I picked up your emails (mostly remotely) and have passed this to Jess who is picking up the issue. I’ve just got back to the office and drove past the common to see the damage for myself. Depressing! We’re getting on to the parish council.
Cheers Tony Dr A Whitbread. Chief Executive Direct line: 01273 497550 [cid:smallSWTgreenlogo_a7ccb1ba-34c4-4a77-9792-6d468f16e488.jpg] www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk<http://www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/> From: Adastra [mailto:adastra-boun...@lists.sxbrc.org.uk] On Behalf Of D BANGS Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2017 2:34 PM To: Adastra discussion group Subject: [Adastra] Fwd: Henfield Common damage to archaic grassland by football pitch project Adastra folk, Can you back this up, please, Dave Bangs ----Original message---- From : bangs...@btinternet.com<mailto:bangs...@btinternet.com> Date : 16/05/2017 - 14:23 (GMTST) To : stephen.wynn-dav...@jpress.co.uk<mailto:stephen.wynn-dav...@jpress.co.uk> Subject : Henfield Common damage to archaic grassland by football pitch project From: David Bangs Field naturalist and author bangs...@btinternet.com<mailto:bangs...@btinternet.com> T: 01273 620 815 15/05/17 To: Stephen Wynn-Davies West Sussex County Times Dear Stephen, LETTER ref: article “Work underway to transform football pitches” Damage to archaic species-rich grassland at Henfield Common I re-visited Henfield Common after reading your excellent article and was appalled. One of the main wildlife features of Henfield Common is the ‘Chamomile lawn’, which covers ground adjacent to the cricket pitch. Wild Chamomile, Chamaemelum nobile, is a rare and steeply declining species and the number of Sussex sites where it naturally occurs is now tiny. The presence of the old cricket ground has served to conserve it on this site up till now. Now, about two thirds of its site has been sprayed with herbicide and is brown, withered, and dying. The sprayed site also showed many rare, attractive and interesting plants, including Heath Spotted Orchis and Southern Marsh Orchis, Adder’s Tongue Fern, Marsh Pennywort, Common Yellow Sedge, Oval Sedge, Hairy Sedge, Devil’s Bit, Tormentil, and Heath Speedwell. The ground round the cricket pitch is the richest site for old meadow fungi on the Common and is of regional value in nature conservation terms for this assemblage, with many Fairy Clubs, Pinkgills and Waxcap fungi. - No Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was made of the football pitch project. - The drainage works to be undertaken may harm the hydrology of the whole Common, given that the core nature conservation feature of the Common is its archaic acid marsh vegetation. - Furthermore, the highly acidic Folkestone Beds surface geology of the Common is what gives it its individual character. Semi-natural Low Wealden ‘moor’ vegetation is now very rare, and the loss of this surface geology to new imported soils will damage the character and sense of place of the whole Common. All further works to the football pitch project should cease until these issues of nature conservation have been addressed. With best wishes Dave Bangs ________________________________ Sussex Wildlife Trust is a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Act. Registered in England, Company No. 698851. Registered Charity No. 207005. VAT Registration No. 191 305969. Registered Office: Woods Mill, Henfield, West Sussex BN5 9SD. Telephone 01273 492630
