Wildlife habitat to be reinstated

A NEWHAVEN wildlife habitat destroyed by a developer's bulldozer is to be reinstated.

People living in Southdown Road were angry when Westbury Homes contractors dug up a three-metre-wide strip of tall grass and shrubs at the end of their gardens.

Plans showed the area was to be left as a wildlife corridor for animals, including badgers, which roamed the land before it was earmarked for development.

It was also supposed to be a natural barrier between Southdown Road and new homes at Harbour Heights.

It emerged Westbury Homes had mistakenly dug up the land to create a temporary footpath between Augustfields and Tideway School so people did not have to walk across the busy work site.

Chairman of Southdown Badger Protection Group Graham Amy said it was best that the bulldozed area was fenced off and nature allowed to take its course.

'The area was used by badgers foraging for food and there was an agreement to leave the land for wildlife and give the people of Southdown Road a degree of protection. We can't put back what nature has created over 40-odd years, so it is probably best if it is fenced off and left to self-seed.'

However, there was a double blow when it emerged an artificial badger sett built near the area had been destroyed by vandals.

MP Norman Baker, who called on behalf of residents for the area to be returned to its natural state, said: 'I am very disappointed and saddened that mindless vandals have destroyed the badgers' sett on the site when many people have fought very hard for their protection.

'We now need to find out whether there are any badgers around and make alternative arrangements to make a sett.

'If they are gone we need to rethink what the wildlife corridor is for and maximise its use to benefit the animals and plants that remain.'