The second major invasion in two years will take place in Sussex on Saturday – to protect ancient woodland from Central Park development.
This comes on the heels of a massive incursion into the Liberty Landscape that drew more than 300 people on land owned by Brighton and Hove City Council in July 2021 to demand entry and an end to the bloody campaign. This time it will be in the southern suburbs of London, right next to Crawley, home to the largest forest woodland in Sussex.
Mass intrusion occurred Saturday, September 24, 10:30am to 3:00pm Freeview, with right-to-roam.you can register here and watch a short video here
archeology
Worth and neighbouring St Leonards Forest are approximately the size of the 6,500-acre Ashdown Forest, famous for AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. Only Worth Forest is a fierce, privately owned, little-known ancient woodland gem with many great, sophisticated oak and beech trees.
It was in Oldhouse Warren that Center Parcs wanted to build a 553-acre resort town with 900 cabins, a “subtropical swimming paradise”, restaurants, shops and a spa. CEO Martin Dalby followed: “Very exciting”.
Perhaps not for the local ecology, which, in the words of the Sussex Nature Planning Group, is “heartbreaking” [this] irreplaceable ancient woodland”.
According to this coalition of conservation groups – Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woodland Trust, RSPB, Conservation Council for Rural England (CPRE) and Sussex Ornithological Society – Old House Warren is home to many rare birds, Including goshawks, small spotted woodpeckers and Firecrest – one of the smallest in the UK. Its ground-nesting birds, such as Woodcocks and Nighthawks, have some of the last Sussex sanctuaries here.
The site is also a habitat with archaeological and ecological features that are rare in the country, including an ancient network of rabbit dens and mounds, and the adjacent Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), an ancient grassy jungle.
promise
“It is for this reason that we are asking Central Park to reconsider development here,” the conservation group reiterated in an open letter to Central Park.
“There is no substitute for ancient forests; ancient woodland soils take centuries, and more often millennia, to accumulate, for the rich connections between soils, plants, animals and other organisms to develop and evolve.”
Henri Brocklebank is Director of Conservation Policy and Evidence at the Sussex Wildlife Trust.
She said: “At this time [ecological] In a crisis, places deemed irreplaceable by national policy, such as old woodland, must be protected and restored rather than dug up to build huts and concrete swimming pools, not to mention all associated infrastructure such as new road crossings and Utilities needed.
“Allowing Centre Parcs to build a new site here is in breach of all relevant local policies and plans, especially the UK government’s own commitment to protect 30% of UK land by 2030.”
Place
Crawley Conservative MP Henry Smith vehemently opposed the development, saying it had a “significant impact” on the area.
When plans were first announced last year, he said: “I’ve only seen Central Park’s proposal for the old house Warren, The Woods is in the Middle Sussex Borough Council area, and the constituency is Jeremy Quinn, but it’s going to have a major impact. Impact. Impact on Crowley.
“This is a sensitive habitat and I believe this is a designated site of exceptional scientific interest, so local authorities may not approve it.”
Oldhouse Warren has one of the largest collections of old trees in Worth and St Leonard’s Forests, which are more forests than anywhere else in Sussex.
Horsham Conservative MP Jeremy Quin has so far held a wait-and-see approach to the plan, saying the development would bring in 1,500 staff and investment, but as an extremely sensitive site it would require “Focus on whether the location is appropriate”.
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Leaders of Mid Sussex District Council, Conservative-controlled planning authority and Crawley Labour-controlled district council earlier expressed support for the project… citing the local economy and getting rid of Gatwick jobs The transformation of monopoly.
Dave Bangs, Sussex’s lead botanist and author of The Brighton Line Land, which includes an instructive chapter on Voss Forest, told the ecologist: “This forest should People are open and free, a haven for nature, like Epping Forest and New Forest.
“The countryside that should be ours to enjoy for free will disappear and a lot of cash from tourists will flow into the coffers of owners.”
He went on to explain that the landowner was a member of the Pearson family, descended from the first Viscount Cowdray.
On January 1, 2018, the 6,000 acres plus the Paddockhurst estate were divided equally among the remaining seven trustees. Each trustee gets 800 acres plus part, plus house. Sales and development were suspended for five years.
beautiful
In terms of timetable, this would be in line with the current plan, which is scheduled to be presented to Mid Sussex District Council by 2023.
Centre Parcs has bought options in Oldhouse Warren for more than £400,000, although it does not currently own the site. However, prior to a possible scoping assessment, ecological survey work is clearly underway in the area.
This will have to take into account the abundance of flora and fauna listed by Bangs: “In Warren’s clearing, fireflies still glow on midsummer nights. Britain’s largest golden-ringed dragonfly and rare emerald damselfly…
“Pink Bog Pimpernel and blue ivy-leaf bellflower, purple heather, yellow Tormentil and Marsh Buttercup, Spearwort survived from the ancient vegetation of medieval forests. Even the rare native lily of the valley – with our garden Variety is different – also survives there.
“The tiny spring candle of the swamp lighthouse fungus glows against the blackness of the small swamp and swamp like a flickering ‘wow’ o that leads travelers astray into the swamp. Fierce-looking green tiger beetle, iridescent Dumble Dor beetles and saber wasps the size of a child’s hand live there. Both are harmless. Everything is fine.”
this author
Jan Goodey is an environmental journalist who regularly writes for Renaissance and Ecologists.
