Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

The badger group, together with colleagues from Beds Badger Group have visited all areas with proposed planning applications and found badger implications on many of them. On behalf of the committee of Herts and Middlesex Badger Group, I wish to inform you of our major concerns regarding areas within the current North Herts development plans.

As I am sure you are aware, badgers and their setts are protected by law in the UK by the Badger Act of 1992 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981.
It is illegal for any person to:
Kill or injure a badger
Dig or take a badger
Possess a dead badger or part thereof
Interfere with, or disturb, a sett.

The most worrying proposed plan is in the proposed GA2 especially Nine Acre Wood and surrounding areas, where there is a very active badger wood with 2 large setts, outlying holes nearby and signs of extensive badger activity. There is a wildlife corridor down the hedgerow to Longdell Wood where there are also active badger setts. If you are planning to close these setts you would need a licence from Natural England and be prepared to give somewhere for the badgers to relocate taking account of existing badger density. As you are proposing to build on all the fields in which they forage too, there is nowhere in your current plan to accommodate them. We are very concerned that the extensive development of this area could not be completed without severe damage to the large badger population. I am going to forward the details of this to the Badger Trust Crime team to keep them informed of this too.

Other areas with badger implications are as follows

a) The northern part of IC3 Ickleford has badger setts and badger activity
b) EL1 and EL2 Cockernhoe/Mangrove Green have signs of badger activity and therefore the development has badger implications, particularly Stubbocks Wood and Messina Plantation public footpath
Stubbocks Wood
1. Sett with four entrances : active TL13932398
2. Sett with two entrances : recent use TL13872400
3. Sett with two entrances: active TL13762401
4. Sett with seven entrances: active TL13762396
5. Sett with two entrance: not active TL13252369
Messina Plantation public footpath
6. Sett with single entrance: used recently with badger print on spoil. TL12742425 hedgerow
7. Sett with four entrances: active with latrine nearby TL12762427 hedgerow
c) North of Stevenager NS1: Very active sett with several fresh latrines, run to huge hole in field and bucket latrine. Also border with SB2 has snuffle holes and latrines showing badger implications.
d) RD1 Active badger sett (5+ holes) in scrub ~10m N of proposed site

We have sett records and grid references for all the setts we have found and will continue to add to this information as brambles and ground cover dies down over the next month. We would be very pleased to meet with yourselves and/or your ecological surveyors regarding these sites and any other areas where you have concerns, to discuss these issues.

The badger group, together with colleagues from Beds Badger Group have visited all areas with proposed planning applications and found badger implications on many of them. On behalf of the committee of Herts and Middlesex Badger Group, I wish to inform you of our major concerns regarding areas within the current North Herts development plans.

As I am sure you are aware, badgers and their setts are protected by law in the UK by the Badger Act of 1992 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981.
It is illegal for any person to:
Kill or injure a badger
Dig or take a badger
Possess a dead badger or part thereof
Interfere with, or disturb, a sett.

The most worrying proposed plan is in the proposed GA2 especially Nine Acre Wood and surrounding areas, where there is a very active badger wood with 2 large setts, outlying holes nearby and signs of extensive badger activity. There is a wildlife corridor down the hedgerow to Longdell Wood where there are also active badger setts. If you are planning to close these setts you would need a licence from Natural England and be prepared to give somewhere for the badgers to relocate taking account of existing badger density. As you are proposing to build on all the fields in which they forage too, there is nowhere in your current plan to accommodate them. We are very concerned that the extensive development of this area could not be completed without severe damage to the large badger population. I am going to forward the details of this to the Badger Trust Crime team to keep them informed of this too.

Other areas with badger implications are as follows

a) The northern part of IC3 Ickleford has badger setts and badger activity
b) EL1 and EL2 Cockernhoe/Mangrove Green have signs of badger activity and therefore the development has badger implications, particularly Stubbocks Wood and Messina Plantation public footpath
Stubbocks Wood
1. Sett with four entrances : active TL13932398
2. Sett with two entrances : recent use TL13872400
3. Sett with two entrances: active TL13762401
4. Sett with seven entrances: active TL13762396
5. Sett with two entrance: not active TL13252369
Messina Plantation public footpath
6. Sett with single entrance: used recently with badger print on spoil. TL12742425 hedgerow
7. Sett with four entrances: active with latrine nearby TL12762427 hedgerow
c) North of Stevenager NS1: Very active sett with several fresh latrines, run to huge hole in field and bucket latrine. Also border with SB2 has snuffle holes and latrines showing badger implications.
d) RD1 Active badger sett (5+ holes) in scrub ~10m N of proposed site

We have sett records and grid references for all the setts we have found and will continue to add to this information as brambles and ground cover dies down over the next month. We would be very pleased to meet with yourselves and/or your ecological surveyors regarding these sites and any other areas where you have concerns, to discuss these issues.

The badger group, together with colleagues from Beds Badger Group have visited all areas with proposed planning applications and found badger implications on many of them. On behalf of the committee of Herts and Middlesex Badger Group, I wish to inform you of our major concerns regarding areas within the current North Herts development plans.

As I am sure you are aware, badgers and their setts are protected by law in the UK by the Badger Act of 1992 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981.
It is illegal for any person to:
Kill or injure a badger
Dig or take a badger
Possess a dead badger or part thereof
Interfere with, or disturb, a sett.

The most worrying proposed plan is in the proposed GA2 especially Nine Acre Wood and surrounding areas, where there is a very active badger wood with 2 large setts, outlying holes nearby and signs of extensive badger activity. There is a wildlife corridor down the hedgerow to Longdell Wood where there are also active badger setts. If you are planning to close these setts you would need a licence from Natural England and be prepared to give somewhere for the badgers to relocate taking account of existing badger density. As you are proposing to build on all the fields in which they forage too, there is nowhere in your current plan to accommodate them. We are very concerned that the extensive development of this area could not be completed without severe damage to the large badger population. I am going to forward the details of this to the Badger Trust Crime team to keep them informed of this too.

Other areas with badger implications are as follows

a) The northern part of IC3 Ickleford has badger setts and badger activity
b) EL1 and EL2 Cockernhoe/Mangrove Green have signs of badger activity and therefore the development has badger implications, particularly Stubbocks Wood and Messina Plantation public footpath
Stubbocks Wood
1. Sett with four entrances : active TL13932398
2. Sett with two entrances : recent use TL13872400
3. Sett with two entrances: active TL13762401
4. Sett with seven entrances: active TL13762396
5. Sett with two entrance: not active TL13252369
Messina Plantation public footpath
6. Sett with single entrance: used recently with badger print on spoil. TL12742425 hedgerow
7. Sett with four entrances: active with latrine nearby TL12762427 hedgerow
c) North of Stevenager NS1: Very active sett with several fresh latrines, run to huge hole in field and bucket latrine. Also border with SB2 has snuffle holes and latrines showing badger implications.
d) RD1 Active badger sett (5+ holes) in scrub ~10m N of proposed site

We have sett records and grid references for all the setts we have found and will continue to add to this information as brambles and ground cover dies down over the next month. We would be very pleased to meet with yourselves and/or your ecological surveyors regarding these sites and any other areas where you have concerns, to discuss these issues.