Hello All,
My garden fence backs on to the Common and I walk our dog most days on it, and I must admit I feel 'stuck between a rock and a hard place'...I'll tell you why.
I have been informed by a local (very local) Councillor that this has all got to be done to maintain the SSI status?? and if the Common looses the status then houses will be built on it as Wychavon District Council are desperate for building land. Is this true?
If this is the case then I agree it shold be managed in some shape or form, but I to was shocked at the extent of the felling. I am aware the contractor felling the trees feels a little uneasy doing the job but hopes the 10 year management plan will continue and what he is doing will be worth while.
I notice that the area felled has no regrowth all be it some ferns which I believe are to be erradicated and the ground is extremely dry, dusty and exposed, this I believe has also been demonstrated with the latest fuel pipe line root (laid many years ago)which people assume is a central path running through the length of the Common.
Recently I have enjoyed watching a nest of lesser spotted woodpeckers fledge in the afore mentioned area, a lone dead silver birch tree, is this a site I will not see in the future?.
Keep up the challenge.

#26: The Fence - Grow Back ...?

Rest assured in reference to sssi lapse and house building. You have been told a lie. Can you tell me the councilors name?

The common was protected anyway, before it's status as such was undermined by changes to the countryside act, 1996. As a common legally, it's protection should have been irevocable since it requires an act of parliament to revoke its status.

It's protection therefore is only as weak or strong as the people who supposedley uphold it.

Best wishes, Steve