To Rother District Council: Please allow Fields in Trust to legally protect your 2 grazing fields, accessed via the main car park in Broad Oak Country Park, incorporating them into the park in perpetuity. These fields, already popular with dog walkers and difficult to build on, would act as an ecological buffer against the 236 houses being built off Fryatt’s Way, so please let them become part of Broad Oak Country Park.

·        Fields in Trust currently legally protect Broad Oak Country Park (about 60 acres of land, mostly to the left-hand side of the track into the park, owned and managed by Rother District Council) and are willing to also protect the two grazing fields (Rother Object ID: 13187, Holding no.3) owned by Rother District Council, and shown on the map, if Rother agrees.

·        Rother District Council’s two grazing fields are looked out on by the residents of Deerswood Lane and Fox Hill. There is a footpath behind the houses in Deerswood Lane running along to these 2 fields. The field at the end of the footpath (also accessed from the large car park in Broad Oak Park) has rights of way across it and is very popular with dog walkers. It is on a steep incline, with many lovely mature trees, making it difficult to build on.

·        Recently planning permission has been granted for 236 houses in the fields adjoining Rother’s two grazing fields. These households will exit via Fryatt’s Way, onto Ellerslie Lane.

·        Rother’s two grazing land fields could accommodate another 100+ houses, possibly using the access road into the park. This would be highly detrimental to the tranquil nature of the park, drastically affect the biodiversity of the area, and cause an increase in pollution and noise to all those living on or accessing the Broad Oak estate, including all the wildlife displaced by the new wave of housebuilding on the adjoining fields.

·        Once the fields are legally protected by Fields in Trust Rother District Council would continue to own and maintain them, as they do now, so there is no extra cost involved.

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