Whitewater Valley Conservation Society
Welcome to the Whitewater Valley Conservation Society
We are delighted to note that Wikipedia has reviewed and greatly enhanced its page on the River Whitewater.
This includes information on the route, history and hydro-ecology of the River Whitewater. A super source of information about this chalkstream river.
We are delighted to report that the public consultation for Bunker’s Hill Solar Farm has been extended until Friday, 23rd October at 5pm.
The Chairman of the Whitewater Valley Preservation Society has received the following message from JBM Solar, the developer for the Bunker’s Hill Solar Farm:
“Due to public feedback during our current consultation period on the Bunker’s Hill Solar Farm, we have decided to extend the consultation by another 4 weeks until the 23 October. We will also be distributing another flyer to those residents within 1.5km of the site with a question and answer leaflet responding to points raised to date and setting out the new public consultation period.”
Please do use this opportunity to respond with your views on the Bunker’s Hill Solar Farm proposal via the developer’s website .
A new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Chalkstreams has been formed to consider the challenges facing chalkstreams specifically.
England is home to over 75% of the world’s chalkstreams, which make an unique contribution to global ecology.
As the River Whitewater is a chalkstream, we encourage you to tell your MP how important chalkstreams are and why they need their own bespoke range of protections.
Please write to your MP and ask them to join the APPG. You can find and contact your MP here.
JBM Solar is proposing a photovoltaic solar farm on land at Bunker’s Hill Farm. This is one of two current proposals for large solar farms in the Whitewater Valley, North-East Hampshire.
The proposal would cover approximately 200 acres of agricultural land. The site runs alongside the River Whitewater, with solar panels for the next 35 years +. We encourage you to look at the developer’s website to see the location of this proposal.
As a Society we are planning a proactive approach to this application to reflect our role as the voice of the valley. We will communicate our plans to you as soon as possible. In the short term, the developers are looking for responses, via the developer’s website by the now extended date of Friday, 23rd October at 5pm.
Whilst we will respond, as a Society, we would also urge you to email them, as an individual. Please encourage those who you believe have an interest in the valley, as residents, business owners, walkers, anglers or cyclists etc. to do so themselves.
Update from the Greywell Hill Estate
Alaska Ecological Contracting finished their part in the restoration of the Fen, leaving a large area of bare mud and a considerable amount of felled alder and poplar. Since when most of the mud has turned green and a lot of wetland birds have enjoyed their summer here.
In the meantime, Estate forester, Tom Elpelt, had to sort very random quality alder and has moved most of the alder either to Down Farm for chipping or into a considerable pile for sale to a wholesale firewood merchant. There was a bit of a delay as Down Farm had run out of room for any more timber.
The Estate has now started on the next phase of the restoration which is to restore the fencing so that cattle can be grazed on the Fen under the management of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. In order to get the fencing in, the Estate is coppicing the overstood hazel running along the side of the bridle path (route 703) and will cut back some of the growth encroaching onto the footpath (fp6) adjacent to the Mill Head. The hazel is on very strong stools and will grow again.
There is a cleared piece of ground at the top of the Mill Head and this is to be included in the grazed area, so the fenceline will cross the footpath in two places. There will be two kissing gates in the fence line and these to a standard that can be accessed in a wheelchair.
The first priority is to get cattle grazing as soon as possible, so we are pressing on with getting the Fen fenced. This means that the poplar will probably not be shifted until ground conditions permit in 2021. The current thinking is that it will be chipped on site and moved in bulk trailers to Down Farm. This has two advantages, firstly that chipping is very noisy and the site is a good distance from the nearest house. Secondly, grain trailers will carry more timber in chipped form than a conventional timber trailer and crane and so there will be less tractor movements and wear on the track.
The prime tool in all the work is the Estate’s 8 tonne excavator, driven by Joe Elpelt, which is equipped with tree shears (like a large pair of scissors), post thumper and a cone splitter to break the poplar down to a size that a chipper can handle.
Clearstone Energy is proposing to develop a 50 MegaWatt photovoltaic solar farm, adjacent to the headwaters of the River Whitewater in North-East Hampshire. The total site area is 143 hectares.
The site runs to the south east of Bidden Road and surrounds Chosley Farm. It extends south to meet Alton Road. It is positioned between North Warnborough to the north east; Odiham to the east; RAF Odiham to the south east; South Warnborough to the south; and Greywell to the west. The site is within the Hart Downs landscape character area. There are two public rights of way across it, and the Greywell Fen site of special scientific interest (SSSI) is located to the immediate north west of the site.
The applicant claims there is currently no intention to place panels on the land north west of the Bidden Road, not least as it forms the immediate valley side, facing broadly north.
This has been the subject of a pre-application (20/00180/PREAPP) consultation and an Environmental Impact Assessment screening opinion (20/01658/EIA). Hart District Council responded to the pre-application consultation on 1st May with considerations for the full application. The Whitewater Valley Preservation Society submitted comments on both the EIA screening opinion and pre-application raising the countryside and landscape impact of the proposal.
Works at Greywell Fen
If you have walked up to Greywell Mill recently, you may have wondered what is happening on the area between the Broadwater and The Moors Nature Reserve (the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s land). The simple answer is fen restoration.
The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It was designated for its fen habitat and associated flora including marsh helleborine, marsh valerian and marsh fern. Once, grazing and coppicing would keep it open. However, in recent years it has become overgrown and dominated by alder, thus reducing its biodiversity. The work will enable the fen to return to “favourable condition”. As Spring progresses, we hope to see it come alive with wildflowers.
Defra accepted the whole Greywell Hill Estate land into its Higher Tier Stewardship Scheme at the start of 2020. This is a bureaucratic environmental land management scheme for farms and forestry. It includes incentives to carry out major works, which would not otherwise be considered by landowners. Natural England’s officer is keen that the Fen is restored. Especially as the Wildlife Trust has undertaken similar work on the adjacent land several years ago. Alaska Ecological Contracting, the same contractors as used by the Trust, are carrying out the works and the Trust’s local warden is overseeing it.
The contractor is felling all the alder and poplar. These will be moved off site when ground conditions allow. The end use of the timber will probably be for biomass production and it will be processed locally if possible, to minimise the haulage. Wetlands are extremely efficient at carbon sequestration. We believe that the work should have a positive impact on water levels in the River Whitewater and help to prevent the drying out of fen habitat which would otherwise be a cause for concern.
The contractors will clear the site completely. The site will revert to grass and reeds and will be lightly grazed to control the return of alders. The Wildlife Trust will help to manage the site.
Published with the kind permission of James Malmesbury
Please note that the Whitewater Valley Preservation Society AGM, to be held on Monday 23rd March, has been cancelled. This is due to prevailing circumstances.
We will notify members as soon as we have a future plan. In the meantime please do not hesitate to keep in touch by email ContactUs(at)Whitewatervalley.org.uk.
Storm Dennis, coming hard on the heels of storm Ciara last weekend, has caused flooding around Mill Corner in North Warnborough.
Mill Corner is under water. Sewage is coming up from the manholes. The pumping station on Hook Road is an island in a sea of sewage. The sewage is now over flowing into the River Whitewater, an important chalk stream, which is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).
