
Overview
Rare and vulnerable birds of the Brecks are under threat from development in one of the UK's most unique and wildlife rich landscapes.
The Brecks, on the Norfolk-Suffolk border is a unique and wildlife-rich landscape, boasting nearly 13,000 species and 28 per cent of the UK's rarest plants and animals.
In May 2015 a planning application was submitted for the construction of a road and up to 1,650 homes on land immediately adjacent to a site supporting stone-curlew, woodlark and nightjar. Their importance has been recognised by the designation of the Breckland Special Protection Area (SPA), a European designated site created for their protection and conservation.
All three species are particularly vulnerable to disturbance by human activity, and the proposed development falls entirely within the 'stone-curlew buffer zone' set out in local planning policy which extends for 1500m around the Breckland SPA, and is designed specifically to protect nesting stone curlews from such disturbance.
If allowed to proceed, it is predicted the construction of the West Brandon housing development and relief road would result in the loss from the area of more than 1 per cent of the entire UK breeding population of the stone-curlew.
We are objecting to this development to prevent irreversible damage to the Breckland SPA and its populations of stone-curlew, woodlark, and nightjar.
- Our key points in opposing the development are:
- It would result in irreversible damage to a statutory European protected area and the species for which it is designated.
The local councils have identified suitable alternative sites in the local area where houses could be built without impacting at all on species of the Breckland SPA.