The Tufa field is a nature reserve (see Google Maps) under grave threat from Bath & N East Somerset Council.

The current phase of development started in 2007, with pressure from government to meet quotas for house-building, and the field was entered into the Local Plan for up to 45 dwellings. Originally local planning officers recommended exclusion of the land from the plan on the grounds that greenfield sites should only be used as a last resort, accepting representations to that effect,  but this was overruled by the government inspector, who ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support the BANES plan’s objective for house building numbers. Since then, these numbers have been easily exceeded, vindicating the original assessment by local officers that windfall and brownfield sites would meet the plan targets.

In 2020, in the wake of an ecological and nature emergency being declared by the local council, planning permission was granted to develop this rare habitat - one deemed to be of county importance. The key argument - habitat translocation - assumes you can effectively move this ecological gem to a site 2 miles away. This is an unproven theory, and one particularly disputed by professional ecologists.

Please help us stop this development by signing our petition.

Thank you

Friends of Englishcombe Lane Field