We firmly support Basildon Council’s policy of returning Barn Hall permanently to Green Belt. If allowed, this development would damage the character and appearance of the north-western edge of Wickford. The site forms the eastern edge of a belt of largely unspoiled countryside extending southwards from the Hanningfield/Downham ridge. If flats and houses were built, the lovely, relatively remote character of this belt of countryside would be materially eroded - effectively destroying it for ever!
The beautiful fields of Barn Hall extend virtually into the heart of Wickford - a world away from the ‘urban sprawl’ which blights so much of south-east England. They must not be ‘concreted over’. There is no finer approach to Wickford than on foot from Downham Church, following centuries-old paths and mediaeval lanes, past ancient hedgerows, and finally across fields with views over the town to the coast. Here are two photographs of that landscape:
The first is looking, in the opposite direction, north from Station Avenue to the Hanningfield/Downham ridge:
The second is a close-up of one of the beautiful meadows threatened by this development:
2. WNGAG believe in protecting the environment.
Preserving open, green areas is important for the protection of biodiversity, combating the adverse effects of climate change, reducing pollution and stopping over-development. Building on Barn Hall would harm the environment.
These fields were used for years for agriculture, growing crops, and as grazing for cattle. Although recently farming has been confined to cutting the grass for hay, the world now faces an increasing population, shortages of basic foods, escalating food costs, and growing pressures to cultivate other crops for bio-diesel. Future agriculture in the United Kingdom faces enough problems and challenges without compounding them by allowing building on green fields, particularly when there are no shortages of ‘brownfield’ sites in Basildon District.
3. WNGAG wish to safeguard nature.
Barn Hall is an area of long-established meadows, wild flowers, ponds, hedges and copses. The flowers include bluebells, daisies, clover varieties, cow parsley, hedgerow cranesbill, dandelions, speedwell, rampion, buttercups, kingcups, foxgloves, wood anemones, common sorrel, common toadflax, gorse, herb Robert, vetch, stichwort, red campion, red clover and meadow grasses. There are blackberry and rosehip bushes; and ancient hedgerows and trees. WNGAG has been successful in having Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) made in respect of 50 individual, mature trees along the Barn Hall field boundaries, plus the mixed woodland at the end of Jubilee Drive and the triangular woodland between Clovelly Gardens and Station Avenue.
It is a haven for wildlife in an increasingly crowded part of south-east Essex. Residents report seeing the following mammals - bats, badgers, foxes, rabbits, grey squirrels, hedgehogs, long-tailed field mice and voles; and amphibians and reptiles such as adders, grass snakes, lizards, slow worms, frogs, toads and common newts. Residents have also reported seeing great crested newts nearby and, following pressure from WNGAG, a survey for these took place in 2008. Unfortunately, none were found.
Bird species reported seen by residents include jays, nightingales, blue tits, coal tits, great tits, long-tailed tits, sparrow hawks, goldfinches, chaffinches, green finches, house sparrows, tree sparrows, song thrushes, mistle thrushes, wrens, blackbirds, robins, collared doves, black-headed gulls, dunnocks, blackcaps, wood pigeons, carrion crows, jackdaws, magpies, swifts, swallows, house martins, starlings, cuckoos, barn owls, tawny owls, partridges, pied wagtails, siskins, kestrels, green woodpeckers, great spotted woodpeckers, lesser spotted woodpeckers, ring-necked parakeets and grey herons. Visiting flocks of birds, like redwing and fieldfare, over-winter here.
There are many butterflies - holly blue, common blue, small copper, peacock, speckled wood brimstone, painted lady, small tortoiseshell, comma gatekeeper, wall, orange tip, large white, small white, skipper, ringlet and meadow brown; as well as many different types of moths and other insects.
The ruination of Barn Hall by development would impact greatly on all the species which live or hunt in the area.
4. WNGAG consider it desirable to retain a quiet and peaceful area.
Barn Hall is an area of tranquillity, a quiet and peaceful retreat, enjoyed by local residents and visitors for relaxation, rambling and dog-walking, the one ‘oasis of calm’ still close to the heart of Wickford. Taking exercise, getting fresh air, and escaping from the pressures of modern life are recognised today as being vital to improving the health of the population. Barn Hall provides the ideal location for this for the residents of Wickford; and it is ‘right on their door-step’, easily accessible without taking their cars to reach it.
Generations of children have grown up here and enjoyed the sense of freedom, playing safely in its meadows, hedges and copses, building camps, bird and flower-spotting, blackberrying, close to nature, surrounded by its wild flowers, animals and birds - growing up in the green and beautiful countryside of this part of south-east Essex.