A lovely, peaceful wilderness off of Stanhope Road in Dover, home to protected slow worms and hedgehogs, was destroyed by a corrupt developer. He’s played the system to get planning permission for a housing development, while Dover Council seems to have looked the other way. Still waiting for planning permission, he has destroyed it again.

He got away with it the first time: just before the key ecology appraisal in June 2019, he cut down all the vegetation and sprayed the whole area with pesticide. He reduced it to bare earth. Not surprisingly, the ecology appraisal found that it wasn’t a likely habitat for reptiles, so the precious slow worms weren’t even looked for. The report states, “No further protected species surveys have been recommended.”

The Environment Agency wasn’t interested, because there were supposedly no protected species present. They said it was low risk. Natural England made no comment.

When planning permission was sought in 2019, locals told Dover Council about all the wildlife including the precious protected slow worms, hedgehogs (in steep decline), bats, birds and insects. They also told the council about the scurrilous actions of the developer. The site was left to regrow during lockdown, and at that point Dover Council should have ordered another ecological appraisal in the light of local people’s knowledge and concerns. Now he’s done it again.

Until this morning, the area had re-grown into a beautiful undisturbed haven, home to much wildlife as before, including the legally protected slow worms. It has been alive with moths and butterflies all summer. But today the developer came back with a tractor and razed everything to the ground. If he follows his previous pattern, his next action will be pesticide spraying.

Please urge Dover Council to take urgent action to prevent the use of pesticides on the site and to halt the granting of planning permission until another independent ecological appraisal is made of the land. This new appraisal should actively take into account the wildlife observations of local residents, and report these to the Environment Agency.