Friends of Ballard Water Meadow brands New Milton councillors’ refusal of Local Nature Reserve designation for that site and Barton Common ‘slap in the face’

A CONSERVATION group has said refusal to have two New Milton beauty spots designated Local Nature Reserves is a “slap in the face”.

The Friends of Ballard Water Meadow wants LNR status for both that site and Barton Common, believing it would heighten people’s perception of the sites’ importance for wildlife.

But members of the amenities committee on New Milton Town Council, which owns both sites, voted to keep them as they were.

Friends chair Bob Lord gave a presentation at the amenities meeting, making the group’s case for the designation.

He explained this would ensure the sites were less susceptible to damaging activities by encouraging more public respect and understanding.

There would be no change to the habitat management of the sites, which have had SINC (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation) status for 25 years, he told the meeting.

Mr Lord, who is also volunteer ranger at Barton Common for the town council, argued that while the public generally did not know what a SINC was, most understood the meaning of a Local Nature Reserve.

The Friends group was also willing to contribute to any “minimal” administrative fees the new designation would incur.

However, town mayor Cllr David Hawkins was not convinced the LNR designation would make any worthwhile difference to either site.

“It will still have the same birds, the same trees, the same insects,” he said.

“Why should we have to go down this complicated road?”

Clerk Graham Flexman said the council’s solicitor had also warned the change of status could affect its ability to make decisions about the sites.

But calling this an “unreasonable fear”, Cllr Steve Clarke agreed with Mr Lord’s assertion that there is more general understanding of an LNR designation.

“It doesn’t make any difference at all to the way we manage the land, but it does add to the local sense of pride. That’s the real issue,” he said.

Cllr Hawkins’ proposal that the sites be kept as they are was backed by a 3-2 vote.

Speaking afterwards, the Friends group said it felt “betrayed” by the outcome as it had understood there would first be a public consultation.

Mr Lord told the A&T the decision was “a slap in the face for the years of hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and experience that volunteers have given to the town council”.

He continued: “LNR status would have been a fitting reward for this hard work; it would put New Milton on the wildlife map of England, and be an asset to both communities (people and wildlife).

“Not only that, it would have been something that the whole community, the hard-working volunteers and the town council could be proud of.”

He stressed the sites’ current SINC status, applied by Hampshire County Council ecologists, applied to plants and plant communities, not other wildlife.

Dismissing the councillors’ control concerns for LNR sites, Mr Lord argued the SINC status offered no legal protection and the council’s ownership meant development was “less likely, but not impossible”.

“If the councillors change, or they are cash-strapped, or government dictates, assets can be sold off,” he said.

“A Local Nature Reserve is declared under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and is a statutory designation, and development (for building) is almost impossible.”