Ever since the the Rushcliffe Local Plan Part 2 was approved – giving developers the green light to build hundreds of new houses on large areas of Ruddington’s Green Belt – villagers have been complaining about the destruction of natural habitats and the loss of green space.
Whilst undoubtedly this is true – and those four large new estates have consumed precious areas of agricultural land we’ll never get back – Gordon Dyne of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT) has learned about one positive outcome…
As part of the planning application for the Fairham Green housing estate off Wilford Road, Bloor Homes included a naturalized green area of around 12.5 hectares just to the north of a (re-routed) Packman Dyke – a larger area than the footprint of the housing itself. “Not that this was done out the goodness of the developer’s heart” Gordon is quick to point out. “Rather it was to make the houses insurable against flood risk. But, hey, never look a gift piece of wilder land in the mouth!”
This large, lower level site – dug out from former arable land as a new ‘flood plain’ – was created last year. It’s principally grassland, plus some newly planted trees and a pond/wetland area. The good news is that it seems to be attracting wildlife already.
He continues: “I was surprised when a local resident told me recently that, not only had they seen Lapwing on the site, but there were chicks! Now as far as I know (not a birder), Lapwing are only seen occasionally in the Rushcliffe area and I can never recall them in Ruddington (it’s difficult to miss the site and sound of Lapwing).”
He says a local NWT member had a walk over to the site and confirmed that there were half a dozen Lapwing there: “Although she did not see any chicks, she spotted that they were driving a crow away, which suggested they were defending something. Indeed their continued presence on site also suggests this. Remarkable! She also noted a Little Egret (not so surprising) and Skylarks (that are widespread in Rushcliffe), but all only a year after creation from arable land. Whether the Lapwing will continue to nest once dog walkers roam the site and cats take up residence is a moot point, as these are ground nesters.”
Indeed, with the building of the 167 new houses at Fairham Green not yet completed, this area is still fenced off from the public, as can be seen below. Gordon adds: “The site is interesting because, again by good fortune, it links into the woodland corridor (old railway track) that runs through Ruddington towards the Country Park. Also, it’s almost adjacent to the Fairham Brook wildlife corridor and therefore links to the Fairham Brook nature reserve, the Silverdale Local Nature Reserve and to the NET tram wildlife area (which links to Wilwell).”
He estimates it is only around 400 metres from Wilwell Farm Cutting over the remaining field, but warns this additional ‘stepping stone’ and associated ‘wildlife value’ will only develop if the nature area doesn’t get sandwiched between yet more housing. As previously reported, if given planning permission, Bloor Homes fully intends to build ‘Fairham Green Phase Two’ on this further area of agricultural land it already owns – which Gordon says is very concerning:
“It would pretty much seal in the wildlife area and even more importantly would bring development right up to the border of Wilwell and bring a lot more disturbance to the site. Now Wilwell is a SSSI and the Rushcliffe Local Plan specifically states that there is a presumption against causing harm to SSSIs, but also as the site was excluded from the Rushcliffe Plan then there is a also presumption against allowing such a site to go ahead. A Planning Inspector should give weight to these, particularly if overall Rushcliffe have made provision to meet their housing target. But there are always caveats to these things!”
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is set to object to any plans to build houses on further Ruddington Green Belt here – and they’re unlikely to be the only ones in our village doing so!
