Save High Lane: Campaigners fight to save Stansted woodland from the chop to make way for 30 homes
A campaign is under way to save a Stansted woodland from the axe, with just days left for residents to object to a proposed housing development in its place.
Villagers Ashley Huggonson and Fiona O'Brien launched the Save High Lane group and have spent the past few weeks delivering leaflets to homes in the area, encouraging people to register their views with planning authority Uttlesford District Council by Friday (March 25).
Joint applicants Pembridge Land Group Ltd and Nicola and John Brierley plan to turn an 8.4-acre young wood – that was planted on land east of High Lane in 1996 under a Forestry Commission woodland grant scheme – into an estate of 30 homes.
Councillors at a parish council meeting earlier this month labelled the proposals "perverse" and now residents have joined the fight to save the natural habitat.
Ashley and Fiona, who lives opposite the site in Coltsfield, said: "Local residents have had enough of people trying to turn Stansted into a town and basically had enough of building in areas of great beauty.
"The planned area is of great beauty and of natural fauna and habitat. The footpaths alongside the woodland are used and enjoyed extensively by local residents.
"Apart from the nature aspect, there have been concerns raised for flooding implications and, of course, turning High Lane into a high road.
"We've been campaigning by dropping leaflets in the area and asking residents to object, which is proving successful. However, we need more residents of Stansted to object to this planning application, which, if successful, will ultimately decimate one of the few woodland areas in the village."
The application comes at a time when the Queen's Platinum Jubilee this year is being marked with the Queen's Green Canopy initiative which encourages everyone to 'plant a tree for the jubilee'.
Added Ashley and Fiona: "Everyone is invited to plant a tree, why then do rich developers want to destroy a whole woodland in Stansted Mountfitchet?"
Stansted Parish Council has registered its objections on highways grounds and concerns over pedestrian safety; flood risk as the land is adjacent to Ugley Brook, which is also an area earmarked for a natural flood management scheme; the harmful effects on wildlife and biodiversity from felling hundreds of trees; the adverse visual and landscape impact; the fact that the site is outside village development limits; and that the proposal fails to assess the impact on nearby listed buildings.
In the applicants' planning statement, the scheme would comprise up to 30 houses, 12 of which would be affordable homes, and would include generous garden space, parking and landscaping.
There would be a mix of properties ranging from two to five bedrooms and two-bedroom flats. Native trees and hedges would be planted.
"As a result, the effective management and enhancement of the better quality trees and hedgerows, plus a new landscaping scheme, will have benefits for biodiversity and habitat creation, creating a biodiversity net gain on site," said the applicants.
"This will be a significant improvement to the existing habitat on site."
To comment on the application visit planning@uttlesford.gov.uk quoting reference UTT/22/0457/OP
