The county's leading nature conservation charity is urging Wyre Forest District Council (WFDC) to reconsider the proposed sale of a fifth of Burlish Meadows.
Burlish Meadows Conservation Area is part of the largest connected block of heath and acid grassland for nature and people in Worcestershire. Worcestershire Wildlife Trust worked extensively with WFDC, through Natural Networks, to create a wildlife-rich habitat across the 40 hectare former golf course, which connects to both WFDC and Trust nature reserves.
At a meeting of WFDC on Thursday 9th July, Councillors agreed in principle to sell eight hectares to Kidderminster Harriers Football Club, which represents just over a fifth of Burlish Country Park, one of the rarest habitats in Worcestershire. The area would be used for artificial training pitches.
The Trust is urging Councillors to change their plans. Burlish Meadows should not be for sale.
Mike Perry, chief executive officer of the Trust, explained “Burlish Meadows is a really important green lung for both people and wildlife.
“Heathland and acid grassland are incredibly rare - we’ve lost over 90% of Worcestershire’s heathland – so the destruction of a fifth of this land would be a huge loss for the wildlife that needs this kind of habitat but would also remove a large part of green space for people too.
“When Burlish Meadows Conservation area was formed, it was to provide an area for wildlife as well as for an accessible place for local people to use. This has helped to reduce visitor pressure on some of the more sensitive areas of this block of land.
“We’re in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, the county’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy has just been launched. One in six species in the UK is at risk of extinction and the value to people's physical and mental health of accessing nature-rich green spaces where they live and work is increasingly well understood. This proposal needs to be reconsidered.
“Burlish Meadows should not be for sale at all. Kidderminster Harriers Football Club play an important role in the local community but this is the wrong place for such a development.”
Burlish Meadows Conservation Area, formed in 2018, is part of a block of land managed as nature reserves between Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley. Much of the land is owned and managed by Wyre Forest District Council and these areas adjoin land owned by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.
The removal of a fifth of this connected habitat will not only destroy important habitat but place extra pressure on what’s left.