Rats warning on landfill site

A PRESERVATION group managing a Site of Special Scientific Interest has set out its implacable opposition to use of the Turkey Road clay pits for landfill.

Members of High Woods Preservation Society voted unanimously at their annual meeting last Friday to support a special resolution.

The emergency motion was put on the agenda at St Martha's Hall by woodland warden and acting chairman Alan Malpass:

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"That High Woods Preservation Society objects to any use of the Ibstock brickworks for landfill or the incineration of waste and that it is against any development which have a harmful effect on the wildlife of the woods."

Mr Malpass was among principal speakers at the recent packed public meeting at the High School called by town MP Gregory Barker.

He spelled out the dangers landfill and incineration hold for the woods again at the annual meeting.

The preservation society was formed at a time when the 87-acre High Woods faced their greatest threat. Since 1980, it has cared for the woods as a natural habitat with free public access under a management agreement with Rother council which has the approval of bodies such as English Nature and the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

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The ancient woodland was awarded SSSI status because of its rich and diverse flora and fauna.

Now the society fears an invasion of rats if the million cubic feet of nearby clay quarries were to be used for landfill and disturbance to nesting birds.

The delicacy of nature's balance in the woods was illustrated by a survey some years ago on lichen in the woods. Lichen is a good barometer of environmental well-being. Less was found in parts of the wood nearest the brickworks, thought to be as a result of emissions from the works chimney.

Society member and environmentalist, Barbara Echlin repeated her message at the public meeting.

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"I am fully behind what you are saying but if we are to object to landfill sites we have to take responsibility for reducing as much as possible the waste we create. So it is incumbent on High Woods Preservation Society members to be at the forefront of reducing waste."