I do sometimes get confused between the role of parish council and borough 
council. Often the same people sit on both despite this appearing to be a 
conflict. Do you have a list of members to write to?

 

It seems almost routine for some developers to clear land (or spray it) prior 
to applying for planning permission. Once upon a time planning departments 
would have taken a dim view of such practices. These days they seem to reward 
them by granting planning permission. I am unsure of how good Henfield Borough 
Council (if there is one) or West Sussex County Council are on such practices.

 

Is it possible to have some photographs of the site before and after? Why do 
you need it surveyed? Is it to determine what remains? To determine the extent 
of damage? I think that unless you have some previous baseline datum to work 
from otherwise a new survey will not determine the extent of the damage. Can 
you apply to get the site incorporated within the SNCI? How are you going to 
protect it?

 

I think that you have done well to highlight this Dave stay positive you might 
succeed in protecting the grassland. I think there is a grasslands trust that 
you could also contact.

 

All the best,

Richard.

 

From: Adastra [mailto:adastra-boun...@lists.sxbrc.org.uk] On Behalf Of D BANGS
Sent: 16 May 2017 14:32
To: Adastra discussion group <adastra@lists.sxbrc.org.uk>
Subject: [Adastra] Henfield Common football pitch project: No Environmental 
Impact Assessment was done

 

Adastra readers see below.
Henfield Parish Council did no EIA.
They made no approach to the Sussex Wildlife Trust, despite them being just 
down the road.
Natural England were, as usual, toothless,
Dave Bangs
-----------------------------------------------------------

----Original message----
>From : henfiel...@btconnect.com <mailto:henfiel...@btconnect.com> 
Date : 16/05/2017 - 12:55 (GMTST)
To : bangs...@btinternet.com <mailto:bangs...@btinternet.com> 
Cc : richardkendall...@icloud.com <mailto:richardkendall...@icloud.com> , 
garypetti...@hotmail.com <mailto:garypetti...@hotmail.com> , 
mikepmor...@btinternet.com <mailto:mikepmor...@btinternet.com> , 
vassossianto...@gmail.com <mailto:vassossianto...@gmail.com> , 
malcolmeastwood...@btinternet.com <mailto:malcolmeastwood...@btinternet.com> , 
off...@henfield.gov.uk <mailto:off...@henfield.gov.uk> 
Subject : Henfield Common football pitch project: damage to archaic grassland

Dear Mr Bangs,

 

Further to your earlier email, I can confirm that there was no Environmental 
Impact Assessment carried out on the Henfield Memorial Field pitches.

 

For your information Henfield Parish Council did contact ‘Natural England,’ 
‘Historic England’ and ‘The Open Spaces Society,’ amongst others, to inform 
them of the proposals to carry out the work. Only The Open Spaces Society 
responded and gave no objections to the work being carried out.

 

I can confirm that the contract to carry out the renovation work has already 
been agreed between Henfield Parish Council and the contractor, and it is 
anticipated that the work will commence in the next couple of weeks, subject to 
weather conditions being favourable.

 

Kind regards,

Kevin Wright

Clerk – Henfield Parish Council

 

From: D BANGS [mailto:bangs...@btinternet.com] 
Sent: Monday, 15 May, 2017 8:17 PM
To: off...@henfield.gov.uk <mailto:off...@henfield.gov.uk> 
Subject: Henfield Common football pitch project: damage to archaic grassland

 

From: David Bangs

Field naturalist and author

bangs...@btinternet.com <mailto:bangs...@btinternet.com> 

T: 01273 620 815

15/05/17

To: Mr Kevin Wright, Henfield Parish Clerk

Dear Mr Wright

Damage to archaic species-rich grassland at Henfield Common

Thank you for speaking to me on the phone today.

I re-visited the Common after our phone chat and was appalled.

The football pitch project area sprayed by herbicide/gramicide takes in well 
over half of the area in which Chamomile, Chamaemelum nobile, is present. This 
is a rare and steeply declining species and the number of Sussex sites where it 
naturally occurs is now very small. 

Its presence in quantity is one of the core nature conservation features of the 
Common.

The area sprayed displays (in my short visit today) a number of high nature 
value scarce plants, including Chamomile, 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. 

In a single brief visit to the pitch project area in 2013 I recorded six 
significant old meadow fungi species: two Fairy Clubs, a Pinkgill and three 
Waxcap fungi. I suspect a properly conducted survey for this group would record 
many more.

As I said to you, Henfield Common is largely an SNCI (Site of Nature 
Conservation Interest). The area of the cricket pitch and the old ball pitches 
(which are the subject of HPC’s project) was anomalously excluded from the 
designated SNCI only because the appropriate surveys there had not then been 
carried out. Subsequently, a survey of the cricket pitch for old meadow fungi 
was conducted (about 15 years ago) and the cricket pitch proved to be the 
richest site for old meadow fungi on the Common and one of regional value in 
nature conservation terms for this assemblage. 

Can you please tell me whether any Environmental Impact Assessment was made of 
the football pitch project? If it was, would you be so kind as to forward it to 
me?

I understand that drainage works are to undertaken (and ditch ‘cleaning’ has 
recently taken place). Given that the core nature conservation feature of the 
Common is its archaic acid marsh vegetation, further drainage could be very 
detrimental.  

Furthermore, the highly acidic Folkestone Beds surface geology of the Common is 
what gives it its individual character. Semi-natural ‘moor’ vegetation on the 
local Wealden Folkestone Beds is now very rare, and the loss of this surface 
geology to new imported soils will thus damage the character and sense of place 
of the whole Common. 

I ask you, please, to secure the cessation of all further activity pertinent to 
the football pitch project until  these issues of nature conservation have been 
addressed. This is a matter of urgency, 

With best wishes

Dave Bangs

 





 

 

 


 
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