Tony - you're good !!!
big thanks
Dave Bangs
----Original message----
>From : tonywhitbr...@sussexwt.org.uk
Date : 16/05/2017 - 15:25 (GMTST)
To : adastra@lists.sxbrc.org.uk
Subject : Re: [Adastra] Fwd: Henfield Common damage to archaic grassland by
football pitch project
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
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
Date : 16/05/2017 - 14:23 (GMTST)
To : 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
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
