Water Voles habitat to be polluted by Owlthorpe development plans
Written for ShefLive:
Owlthorpe Field Action group have warned of development plans polluting water voles habitat.
The group think that they have discovered water voles, a protected species, in the river, Ochre Dyke, nearby.
Claire Baker, chairperson of Owlthorpe Field Action Group, said: “The surface water is contaminated with car oils, soaps, salt from gritting roads and all of that is going to end up in Ochre Dyke.”
When the Campaign group brought up this argument, they said that they had been “ignored”.
Pond is 500m away from where the water voles are suspected to be living.
An attenuation pond is a drainage pond for drainage run off to slow down water released into the river.
“For instance, if someone spilt antifreeze on the drive and it went down into one of the surface drains, that would be piped down into an attenuation pond and dumped into the river.”
The developers, Avant Homes, are planning to drain the surface run off from the concrete into an attenuation pond. This water would then end up in the nearby river.
Plans for housing development of the Fields had already been controversial and was challenged by OFA previously. However, they had to withdraw from legal action after succeeding in changing the council
Avant Homes responded to their OFA’s open letter which accused developers that they would “rip the heart out” of Owlthorpe Fields.
They said: “The Planning Inspectorate also found that there was no substance behind both the reasons for refusal and the objections brought about by the Owlthorpe Action Group. These findings, in turn, allowed our appeal to succeed.
“Our development plans have been carefully considered and meticulously prepared to ensure we can successfully deliver much-needed new housing for local people whilst respecting the surrounding environment.”
The group have also gained support from residents and campaign groups including Sheffield Friends of the Earth.
Lindy Stone, coordinator of Sheffield FoE, said: “We are fully supportive of all of the work Owlthorpe Fields Community Action Group have done and are full of admiration.
“Things will be better because of the work that Owlthorpe fields have done now. Unfortunately, they are not going to specifically benefit from it.”