SS15 wildlife watching: Bad news! .... proposed development in Pound Lane adjacent to St. Nicholas Church cemetery

Some months ago when I visited St. Nicholas Church and the cemetery, I noticed some very short black plastic boundary fencing at the western edge where the path leads in to Pound Lane (I have since found out that this is supposedly a “newt fence”).

During one of my chats on site with Phil, one of the conservation volunteers, he told me that a developer had acquired the land between the cemetery and Pound Lane and already had planning permission, albeit construction had not started.

I have established from Basildon Council the following:

Planning application reference: 15/01392/OUT

Provision of up to no.12 Custom Build residential dwellings with associated (indicative) landscaping with all matters reserved. Land south of 70 Pound Lane, Laindon, Essex.

Decision issued date: 29^th November 2018

Planning application reference: 19/00643/REM

Application for approval of reserved matters following consent reference 15/01392/OUT, seeking approval for access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of 12 dwellings. Land south of 70 Pound Lane, Laindon, Essex.

Decision issued date: 15^th October 2019

I have also recently discovered that the developer is Unboxed Homes and there is more information on their Pound Lane development here which they describe as “an innovative development of 12 family homes, set within a woodland community”.

Having spent a 30 year long career in housing strategy, housing policy and housing management, I fully recognise the desperate need for affordable housing around the UK and in my own home town of Basildon.

However, this proposed development by Unboxed Homes is most definitely not affordable housing and yet again valuable green space in a largely urban area and valuable wildlife habitat is going to be destroyed to provide what appear to be 3-bed, 4-bed and 5-bed luxury homes with starting guide prices of £375,000.

The Unboxed Homes website describes the location as a “woodland community” which is “next to a nature reserve”. Neither statement is factually accurate. In addition, the “progress” page states “Before work starts on site, we need to do ecology”. You don’t “do ecology” …. you do an ecological assessment of the ecology.

Unboxed Homes further state that their “doing ecology” in fact means “…. making sure the newts are cleared from site and relocated! The newt fence is up to make sure that no newts that have been cleared get back in.”

Unboxed Homes also state that in February 2020 “…. the ecologists found a Badger sett and thought we might have Badgers on site as well as newts! Thankfully it turned out the Badgers had moved home, so we haven’t been giving them any trouble.” Whether it is true that the Badgers have “moved home” is debatable since there is a Badger sett in very close proximity which is very much active and apparently has been long established for generations.

In one of their promotional videos (their “video site diary”), Unboxed Homes talk about their site “being in the middle of nature” yet they also refer to the removal of natural vegetation and the removal of Great Crested Newts and Slow Worms to an unspecified alternative location. They go on to say that they will “keep some of this nature” and “have a bit of woodland”.

I am appalled by this development and I regret not being aware of the proposals prior to planning permission being granted. Whilst it may well not have made any difference to the outcome of the application, I would certainly have made representations at the consultation stage and hopefully engaged the local community and the support of the Essex Wildlife Trust.

Why is it that green space has to be destroyed and developed, with so-called “mitigation” of wildlife loss by “relocation”, when there are so many run down and derelict brown-field sites that could be improved by residential development and associated green landscaping for wildlife?

Here are some photos which I took in May. They show the view from St. Nicholas Church cemetery looking towards the western edge and beyond which the proposed Unboxed Homes housing development will remove valuable wildlife habitat. The second and third photos show the short black plastic boundary fencing which is claimed to be “newt fencing”.