If We Lose This Field to Housing!

 

I think we'll find out in June whether this field will be built on and the water vole colony destroyed. It breaks my heart that these beautiful and supposedly legally-protected animals will disappear under the pressures of building work, habitat disturbance and domestic cats.

More Latrines Appearing

 

burrow

burrow containing feeding

trampled droppings = a latrine, marking territory

Key Features of a Water Vole

 

Brown, thick fur, furry tail, small ears, blunt nose, starry toes. Water vole droppings are shaped like Tic Tacs and a similar size.

Edgeley Road Voles

 

Who Knows How Long these Voles Will Be Here?

 

This water vole is carrying nesting materials.

water vole droppings

First sightings of water voles at Edgeley Road and at White Lion Meadow (Tesco car park). Normally I would be celebrating: now, with Edgeley Road under threat of a housing development, I don't know if I dare.

Worrying News

Very sad to start the new year with bad news, but the field off Edgeley Road is once again under threat of development. 62 houses are planned for this field. Yet it's such a magical place for wildlife - I've seen otters there, a harvest mouse, many water shrews, while in the trees are Barn Owls, Whitethroats, Nuthatches, Treecreepers, Greenfinches and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers. The grass is alive with butterflies and moths. Many are recorded on this blog if you want to check the tags/labels on the right hand side. And of course it's bursting with water voles. This colony has appeared on Radio 4's Saving Species and featured in BBC Wildlife magazine. It's easily Whitchurch's strongest colony, and especially upsetting as I've seen so many other colonies lost to development in Whitchurch. Always developers claim they'll put mitigation measures in place; never does it work. The location of the field can be found here.

If you feel you can leave an objection, then the planning reference on the Shropshire Planning website is 26/00842/OUT and this link should take you directly there. You have to register before you can comment, but that's pretty straightforward and quick.

I have very little faith that the environmental aspect will be taken seriously, but I do have other, even more important concerns about the development: firstly, that schoolchildren crossing the entrance to the road - a tricky crossing at the best of times - will be put at risk if another 120 or so cars are travelling up and down every day. That's almost double the current load of traffic. And secondly, that the risk of flooding will significantly increase for those householders whose properties border the brook because the field, known locally as The Soak or The Sponge, will no longer be able to hold water as it always has done in the past. During the torrential rains we have these days, that's a significant risk.

Here below is what I've submitted to the council as an objection. Feel free to adapt as you like. And if you do lodge an objection, THANK you. xxx

Traffic and Pedestrian Safety at the Edgeley Road/Newport Road junction.

 The biggest concern is the state of the junction at the entrance to Edgeley Road. Many hundreds of children cross the entrance to Edgeley Road twice a day, every weekday, on their way to Sir John Talbot’s. Many of them tend to step out without looking properly, maybe because they’re chatting to friends or looking at phones or listening to music. Coming from the direction of school, they actually *have* to step into the road to check if there are any vehicles coming down Edgeley Road, because the angle of the junction means they can’t see. They get away with this because traffic is currently quiet on this road. But add in another 120 cars and you’ll have an accident waiting to happen. If you allowed 62 dwellings to be built, you would be doubling the number of houses using this small road in one fell swoop!

 Meanwhile, there are problems for drivers. When you're in a car turning left, the bend means there is poor visibility and sometimes you have to pull slightly forward to see. Meanwhile, immediately to the right and so close it's almost part of the junction, is a mini roundabout. Drivers coming off this roundabout signal left, but this is confusing as you'd also signal left to go down Edgeley Road. Therefore, pedestrians crossing the road and drivers exiting don't know whether the vehicle is going past or coming directly at them. The traffic coming from the right is also often travelling fast; vehicles frequently sail over the mini roundabout without slowing, which makes pulling out from Edgeley Road tricky. To add to the difficulty, every summer the rose bed to the right of the junction grows so high as to restrict visibility so you really can’t see what’s coming from that direction till the last minute.

 In short, the junction will become really dangerous and it is children who will be in the firing line.

 Flooding

 Another concern is flooding. This field where the 62 houses are proposed to be built is known locally as The Sponge or The Soak. Even in drought times, there are patches of standing water across the field because the area soaks up and holds rainfall. Given the long-term heavy rains we have nowadays, what is going to happen to all the water that is now safely held in that field? Tarmac and buildings mean the field won’t be there to absorb excessive water, and it will go into the watercourse that goes under the railway line and then joins the Staggs Brook. The Staggs Brook flows through a culvert under Edward German Drive and, during wet weather, that stretch has already reached capacity and sometimes backed up, overtopping the bank on the upstream. Any more water and it will start to affect properties upstream, particularly Rydal Avenue and Edgeley Gardens. That culvert no longer has a debris screen on it so any debris could get lodged inside. Years ago, such an occurrence happened and the stream flooded a third of some Edward German Drive gardens and came within feet of some houses in Rydal Avenue. If you look at the flood risk maps on getthedata.com you will find that these areas are at risk. I don’t know what will happen to house prices of those affected, but I do believe those houseowners would have a right to sue the council if they were flooded after this estate was built, given that the council was warned about the risk.

Environmental/Wildlife Impacts

This field holds one of the strongest colonies of water voles in Whitchurch, observed and recorded here over decades. https://staggsbrook.blogspot.com/search/label/field%20off%20Edgeley%20Road?m=0

Water voles are legally protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 because they are a critically endangered species. It is an offence to intentionally:

-      kill, injure or take them

-      to intentionally or recklessly damage or destroy a structure or place used for shelter or protection

-      disturb them while they occupy a structure or place used for shelter or protection

-      obstruct access to a structure or place used for shelter or protection

Any developer must legally follow the government’s ‘Guidance

on Water voles: advice for making planning decisions.

How to assess a planning application when there are water voles on or near a proposed development site’. In the ecologist’s report for the Edgeley Road development, the mitigation and protection measures are for the most part couched in the vaguest terms and almost meaningless. If diggers and bulldozers, pile drivers and other heavy plant are digging up that field, there will inevitably be disturbance to the water voles, even if it is 20m away from the water course. The LPA needs to consider the Mitigation Hierarchy and Diversity Duty. This development looks as if it will be breaking the law.

Coming to the End of the Voling Season

Droppings tell me there's regular vole traffic on this stretch.

Getting very few sightings now, though a vole came up last night and sniffed my boot. The trail cam shows that the water voles are mainly nocturnal at the moment, which is a usual pattern. One of the video clips shows a bank vole: I include it to show the relative size against the water vole. (Ignore the date stamp, which keeps re-setting itself to the wrong time.)

This blog will, as usual, go into semi-hibernation now, although I'll post if I see anything interesting. Otherwise, see you in the Spring!