A well-liked birding web site in Surrey is underneath risk by the proposed development of a McDonald’s, prompting the launch of a petition.
Situated close to Badshot Lea, Tice’s Meadow is likely one of the most-visited nature reserves within the county – however the fast-food chain has submitted plans to build a brand new 24-hour drive-through throughout the Tice’s Meadow and Tongham Ponds Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI).
A map detailing the place the McDonald’s could be constructed throughout the Tice’s Meadow and Tongham Ponds SNCI (Tice’s Meadow Bird Group).
The Tice’s Meadow Bird Group has voiced concern over the proposals, explaining that the development can have a detrimental affect on wildlife on the reserve and within the wider SNCI – and that the creation of the present service station by the proposed space has already negatively impacted the realm. The precise space that McDonald’s hopes to build on supported a territorial Common Nightingale in the summertime, in addition to a number of warbler species.
Mark Elsoffer, secretary of the Tice’s Meadow Bird Group, mentioned: “Any additional improvement might render this important pure artery useless and materially hurt the character conservation pursuits of the SNCI. The proposed web site can also be wholly inside land designated as countryside within the Guildford Borough Local Plan, which describes the realm as ‘an essential open hole between Ash and Tongham and the city of Aldershot’ and offering ‘a inexperienced hall and tranquil setting with appreciable biodiversity worth’.
“The proposed restaurant can have a big adverse affect on many delicate and guarded habitats and species by way of elevated disturbance, noise, visible affect, litter, odour, gentle air pollution and air air pollution. The developer’s planning utility fails to correctly handle these issues.
“The developer proposes to offset the harm they may trigger by erecting some chicken and bat nestboxes on land it owns to the north of the positioning. Restoration of this land to an ecology-rich space was a planning situation for improvement of Tongham Services. Three years after the providers opened and it is nonetheless not been accomplished. What hope do now we have that the developer will preserve to any new guarantees they make?”
A petition – which will be signed here – has been launched to cease the creation of the brand new McDonald’s.
Tice’s Meadow, a former quarry, has been transformed right into a dynamic nature reserve with roughly 1,115 species of wildlife recorded (Tony Hordern).
