Fury as trees are ripped out and habitat destroyed at York nature reserve
This is the scene at a York nature reserve today.
Trees have been cut down and hedges uprooted, while a digger has been moving significant earthworks.
The work has been taking place at Westfield Fen, also known as Westfield Marsh, designated as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation.
Westfield Councillor Andrew Waller said: “Residents have contacted me with their fury at what has happened at Westfield Fen today, between Westfield Place and Grange Lane, and I have been to see for myself the loss of habitat, and felling of trees.”
Cllr Waller told YorkMix: “The sheer scale of it, to have this without any warning to myself or the local community – it’s something that really does demand answers.”
Residents have been sharing their feelings with him.
“They were very upset. I spoke to a gentleman when I was there. And he’s used those fields for decades.
“So it’s a natural oasis. And this is a significant attack on it.
“It’s more than just digging out a ditch. It’s cutting down a lot of trees and moving a substantial amount of earth.”
Westfield Marsh, York
“Westfield Marsh is a small wetland close to Westfield School in Acomb accessed via a children’s play area. The fen habitat here is associated with a peat-filled depression, apparently on the site of medieval fish ponds serving Acomb Grange. The marsh supports fen vegetation such as sharp-flowered rush, meadowsweet and brown sedge, whilst marsh marigold is also abundant.
“Westfield Marsh is designated as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) as an example of fen habitat. This type of habitat is now rare in much of lowland Britain as a result of intensive agriculture and land drainage.”
Source: Wild York
Cllr Waller is now demanding answers. Westfield Fen is City of York Council land and he has contacted council officers to ask what is going on.
He says “there may be a flooding reason to do this”. Westfield Beck is included in the Environment Agency’s York Flood Alleviation Scheme.
However, an agency spokesperson told us: “The York Flood Alleviation Scheme team are not doing any work there and while it is mentioned as an area being considered as part of the York FAS, there aren’t any plans for work there at the moment.”
Cllr Waller said: “When significant works like this are done, there’s normally consultation with the community to say that there will be this level of upheaval, but there’s an understanding as to why and an understanding about what will be done to make good the habitats when when this is over.”
Some damage can’t now be stopped, Cllr Waller concedes. “The ripping out of the trees and shrubs and homes for animals – that’s been done.
“But I think the question now is, how did this occur? And what’s going to be done to to address the shortfall in habitat that’s been created?
“I think we as as a community want to know why, and how it’s going to be put right.”
The questions are
1 who authorised the work
2 who apply for the for the permission
3 who gave the permission
Or is it just some council officer acting outside of their job boundaries
I would expect that who is responsible to be prosecuted and if it is a council office that they all so lose their job