Summary
There are plans to save Cotswold wildflower meadows next to the King’s Highgrove House and Gardens from housing development. Longfurlong Greenfields Association (LGA), a group with more than 110 members, has drawn up plans to establish a community nature area on the fields between the A433 Bath Road and Longfurlong Lane on the outskirts of Tetbury.
Details
Miller Homes are in the process of developing a planning application to build up to 130 new homes at the site including 56 affordable homes and a children’s play area on the privately-owned site. But LGA has formally submitted an application to Cotswold District Council for the site before them.
The community group’s vision for the site is twofold in that they want to protect and enhance the grassland while providing accessible open space for the peaceful enjoyment and wellbeing of residents and visitors.
“The site is comprised of unspoiled permanent pasture, rich in grassland species, including priority habitat for conservation within the objectives and guidance of the Cotswold National Landscape,” Christopher Giles, the group’s secretary, said in the plan’s covering letter. “It also includes a shelter belt of woodland, ponds, a small stream and an area of lowlying wetland.
“The area is already accessible via public footpaths including the Monarch’s way, and is a popular destination for both locals and visitors. “The community nature area would be sensitively managed with the objective of enhancing biodiversity and landscape, balanced against providing public access, so that residents and visitors can derive maximum health and wellbeing benefits.
“This would be achieved by providing accessible entrances, a network of mown paths, and benches for people to sit and enjoy this inspiring natural environment.” Peter Martin, a former district councillor and chairman of the residents’ group, said many people visited the fields during the coronavirus lockdown and have not stopped coming to enjoy the area.
And they want to make the meadows more accesible for residents to be able to enjoy and emulate the success of the Tetbury Goods Shed. “If we turn this into a public wildlife area it will bring even more people here,” he said.
“As we build up the widlflife element and get people involved we could have a little office, ice cream freezer, if people wanted it and tables for people to sit and have a cup of tea while they are on their route of the Monarch’s Way.” He said they are keen to purchase the site and, if succesful, they would then like to have a conversation with Highgrove House about managing some of the adjoining land that floods and turn it into a haven for wildlife and preserve the area’s legacy.
What You Need to Know
The community group’s vision for the site is twofold in that they want to protect and enhance the grassland while providing accessible open space for the peaceful enjoyment and wellbeing of residents and visitors.
“As we build up the widlflife element and get people involved we could have a little office, ice cream freezer, if people wanted it and tables for people to sit and have a cup of tea while they are on their route of the Monarch’s Way.” He said they are keen to purchase the site and, if succesful, they would then like to have a conversation with Highgrove House about managing some of the adjoining land that floods and turn it into a haven for wildlife and preserve the area’s legacy.