‘It’s a right mess,’ says Highcliffe & Walkford Parish Council chairman Cllr Andy Martin after vandals churn up ground at Nea Meadows Local Nature Reserve
A TOWN’S nature reserve was “treated with contempt” by motorcycle-riding vandals who churned up the grass.
They hit Nea Meadows at Highcliffe earlier this month, and BCP town ward councillor Cllr Andy Martin said “a right mess” was made.
He told the A&T. “It’s annoying when people treat nature reserves with contempt.
“This is a vital piece of open land and it’s got to be protected. It makes me really angry to see that one or more people have been up there on dirtbikes or whatever and churned up the ground.”
Although the damage was caused to a fairly small area which would soon recover, Cllr Martin stressed it was the principle of it being caused to a place of nature.
“In a car it would be a doughnut, but they’ve obviously gone round and round on the bike and churned it all up,” he continued.
“I met a couple of residents there who were also dismayed that someone could do this to a local nature reserve.”
It’s not the first time the site was mistreated, with an unauthorised camp leaving mess in its woodland in September 2024.
A group of youngsters put a sheet over trees to create a makeshift den, and used plastic chairs from nearby Highcliffe Bowling Club.
Over a weekend-long clear-up Cllr Martin and parish council chairman Cllr Adam Sofianos filled 15 bin bags with litter, including vapes, plastic bottles and crisp packets.
Cllr Martin said “hundreds” of pieces of litter were dumped in the Bure Brook stream, which was also partially blocked by rocks placed in it for walking across.
The parish council is looking into setting up regular patrols and expanding CCTV coverage to the bowling club.
Neither the ground damage nor the unauthorised camp were reported to the police.
“With the first incident, it transpired that teenage schoolchildren were involved,” Cllr Martin explained.
“Having spoken to the schools, we didn’t report it on the understanding that it doesn’t happen again.
“But next time anything like this happens we will report it to police because it’s damage to the environment.”
He added: “Highcliffe and Walkford has a really special, unique environment and as a parish council we’re determined to protect it.”
