Plea to reverse ‘catastrophic decline of wildlife’ after latest Walsall green belt decision
A wildlife charity and tree expert have criticised the government’s planning inspectorate over a recent planning approval.
The Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust said the inspector’s ruling of 115 homes at Longwood Lane, Walsall, was ‘a real blow for biodiversity.’
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Michael Glasson, a tree verifier for the Woodland Trust, said if that particular site could be built on, then any green belt site in Walsall could.
To mitigate the loss of biodiversity, developer William Davis Home proposed to buy off-site credits at the Buzzards Valley Nature Reserve in Tamworth.
The Wildlife Trust said: “Walsall’s loss would be someone else’s gain. We do not wish to see the species-rich becoming richer at the expense of the species-poor becoming poorer.”
Michael added: “To compensate for the loss of wildlife, they’ll give money to a private nature reserve in Tamworth. It is an insult.
“How does that help the people in Walsall? I think it was the wrong judgement, really unfortunate.
“A lot of people put a huge amount of energy and time into this, and the planning inspector could have made the decision on day one and saved everyone a lot of time and money.”
Michael said the site at Longwood Lane is prime green belt, totally untouched, with four ancient and ten veteran trees.
It is also part of a SLINC (Site of Local Importance to Nature Conservation).
Michael said: “With modern agriculture a lot of the plants found on the site are locally rare. There was bistort and great horse trail. You can find them in fossils but there’s a colony of them on the site.
“It is so rich in all these plants, I thought we had a really strong case.
“The really worrying precedent is that a developer can basically stick a pin in the map, anywhere in the green belt and say this is grey belt and chances are they will win.”
Director of nature recovery at the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust, Dr Norman Dandy, said: “The planning inspector’s decision is a real blow for biodiversity in the Black Country.
“National policy must ensure that everyone has an equal chance to access quality green space in their daily lives. We urge the Government to reverse the catastrophic decline of wildlife.”
