Save the hedgerows!

Hedges add character to the local landscape and provide significant habitat for wildlife. The Gladman plan requires the loss of a long stretch of hedgerow to provide access from a dangerous stretch of the Peppard Road, just beyond the pond to the left of the picture.

Last minute information filed by the applicants just before Christmas shows how a long length of hedge will be torn up on both sides of the road as part of the application. Trees will also be lost to create new bus stops. This road is fast, narrow and winding and because of the high volume of traffic it already supports, is ill-adapted to carry additional turning traffic.

Mature and diverse hedgerows provide habitat for many mammals including endangered species such as slow worms and hazel dormice, as well as bank voles and stoats. Gladman have not provided an ecological survey of the impact of this additional hedgerow loss on both sides of the Peppard Road.

Write to SODC now and express your opinions on the Gladman application. Despite contrary information on the SODC website, comments are still being accepted