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The Bergh Apton Conservation Trust is a registered charity (no. 1048271) which promotes the conservation of wildlife and biodiversity locally and provides relevant educational opportunities; it owns and manages a 10-acre Nature Reserve (County Wildlife Site CWS 2222). The Reserve harbours, among other things, endangered water voles, bats, reptiles, amphibians, a great diversity of birdlife, rare fungi and uncommon plants. I write as Chairman of the Trustees to object to this proposal.
This proposed development would impinge directly on our Nature Reserve (CWS 2222). It is adjacent to and contiguous with Church Plantation, the woodland half of our Reserve, and immediately upslope of Valley Marsh, the marshland half of the Reserve.
Situated on the northern slope of the valley of the River Chet, drainage from any development would inevitably be downslope, towards the river, through the sands and gravels, leading to eutrophication and other pollution of the groundwater of our marsh. We have an important groundwater-fed pond in the valley bottom whose ecological integrity (including clear water and macrophyte vegetation) is entirely dependent on maintaining the existing low-nutrient conditions. To see the inevitable consequences of nutrient enrichment one only has to look at the higher pond, which was designed to take the surface run-off from the nearby landfill site, en route to the River Chet: complete cover with duckweed, anaerobic smells and no submerged vegetation at all. Degradation of groundwater quality would also adversely affect the marsh vegetation and biodiversity that we, as a voluntary local community, have striven to restore to its excellent current state with many years of management activity.
In addition, the immediate proximity of dwellings, the fragmentation of the overall woodland area and inevitable associated disturbance would degrade the value of Church Plantation, both as a haven for wildlife and as a valued amenity for local people to walk and enjoy the countryside.
There are much more appropriate sites for development in the village of Bergh Apton.
