LIGHTMOOR: loss of a unique landscape? October 1997

The proposals in this 7(1) Submission include a central distributor road which runs from the new Horsehay bypass adjacent to the lorry depot for over a mile through the fields and emerging onto the lronbridge bypass just south of the Stoneyhill tipsite (see Appendix (iv)). New mains foul and surface water drainage would also be required to serve the proposed development which it is understood would run to the south east through the Lightmoor.pitmounds a prime site for nature conservation to join an existing system.

CNT have recently asked a housing association, Bournville Village Trust (BVT), to oversee the planning of the Lightmoor development proposals, in particular to assess local public opinion to their plans for a 'Bournville Village' style scheme.

The importance and status of Lightmoor as a Wildlife Site is recognised by Shropshire County Council. This designation gives much of Lightmoor a high degree of protection under environmental and wildlife policies contained in the Wrekin District Local Plan. However, the existence of the old 7(1) planning permission might be assumed to override these policies. There appears to be some conflict of planning policies here which needs to be clarified and resolved if the important environmental issues are to be properly addressed.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPORTANCE OF LIGHTMOOR

Many of the woodlands, meadows, and wetlands on Lightmoor offer their original existence and present form to man's activities - small scale mining, coppicing of ancient woodlands and, traditional farming practices would have caused distinct, but local, disturbances. Large scale building development would irretrievably destroy the character and beauty of the area since the complexity and inter-relationship of soils, drainage, aspect, microclimate, agricultural activity and natural colonisation by vegetation could never be recreated.

Lightmoor is a large relatively undisturbed open area. The ecological importance of the area derives essentially from four characteristics:- diversity of habitats, cohesiveness (lack of fragmentation) of the site, relative freedom from disturbance, and the sheer size of the interesting habitats. The cohesiveness of the diverse habitats is a fundamental and important part of the character of Lightmoor. To support a diverse and dense population of birds for instance, a large unfragmented area of mixed habitats is essential.

In addition to its ecological content and the potential this offers for biological education, the landscape of Lightmoor contains an extraordinary and valuable record of history and industrial archaeology. For example the Stocking Fields, whose name implies woodland

Clearance with stocks (or tree stumps) remaining, is indicative of 13 or 14 Century clearance. This is demarcated by old hedgerows, some of which are remnants of old woodland. Other fields on Lightmoor originate from clearings made in the Forest of St. Gilbert, an ancient forest which extended from the Wrekin across Telford.