Dear Angus.

I understand from reading in savejuniperhillfield.co.uk that your sentiment is making wonderful areas such as Juniper Hill accessible to more people and this is absolutely wonderful and done for all the right reasons.  However I have a deep down feeling that when you bought this site you may not have been as aware as you must be now about the ecological significance this rare limestone escarpment has.

In annexe 1, Kate Gamez’s, article highlights this.  Kate is extremely highly qualified and there is much weight to her article and she encapsulates it perfectly.

At a glance, yes there are Ox Eye Daises, Red Clover, Cowslips, Juniper trees, Dog Rose, Ladies Bedstraw, Buttercups, Scabious, Dandelions, Hawkbit, Bee Orchid, Rosebay Willowherb, Ragwort , several grasses, etc, however with the careful management of this site that Natural England can offer, over a long period of time many, many more flora will re-emerge and this is more valuable than anyone can express to you, and Bulls Cross is just one example of this.

I live adjacent to Bulls Cross and have carried out a simple survey of the variety of flora that I have observed over the last year and a half as I walk my dogs round the common daily.  This is out of pure respect to Natural England and what has been achieved so far with the approach that has been taken with the management of this area.  I have made a record of this on Instagram so that it is presented chronologically and that it may possibly identify the decline and appearance of single varieties in the future and so forth and invite you to take a look at this - bulls_cross_flora, where, to date, I have uploaded photos of in excess of 150 flowering plants, grasses and trees, along with many insects, lepidoptera and fungi.

It is understandable that when pressure is put upon one person (or company) to “simply” withdraw or back down in a situation such as this it may seem intangible, however pride, emotions and money should be cast aside in this instance because of what is at stake.  You will go down in history if you do.

The support of local people and now, from further afield, is neither shallow nor NIMBE, it is deep rooted for one reason and one reason only and this is conservation.

Juniper Hill is part of an increasingly nurtured wildlife corridor and I believe that undoubtably it will not both not prosper but also be a significant patch of land missing in this corridor if it continues to be on the course it is on now. This is not to mention the possibility of discord that could occur within the community of the potential owners of each piece of this land.  The reversing of this kind of situation can only be quite literally impossible.

Yours sincerely, Jo

Hi - we have many experiences of Woodlands in our local area. We would welcome sharing our experiences with you to see if we can support each other. In our case, WIM has actively pursued removing an Article 4 on the 80+ acres of unique woodland surrounding our small community. On the 3rd of Nov 2023, WIM submitted an application for a certificate of lawfulness to permit such things as '...paintballing, shooting, markets and motor car and motorcycle racing including trials of speed.'

Hi, I am familiar with the EIA agriculture regulations, and was wondering if anyone had measured the length of fencing that has been installed on the field? If it is 2km or more an evironmental screening decision should have been applied for, before the works were carried out. Basic information about EIAs (agriculture) is available from gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eia-agriculture-regulations-apply-to-make-changes-to-rural-land