People Out, Hedgehogs Through!

🦔 Keep the Wildlife Corridor Wild: Why I’ve Objected to Revised Development Plans

I wanted to update everyone supporting our campaign for stronger protection for hedgehogs about a planning application here in Overstrand, North Norfolk.

It’s a very local example of a much bigger problem facing hedgehogs across Britain: what happens when the connections between their habitats are gradually broken.

I have already objected to the proposed redevelopment of the former garden centre on ecological grounds. Revised plans have now been submitted, and while the illustrative scheme has been reduced to 12 homes, serious concerns remain. 

🌿 A site is more than its red line

The ecological importance of this site cannot be properly understood by looking at the development boundary in isolation.

It sits within a wider network of residential gardens, hedgerows, boundary vegetation and green space. At its southern end lies the dismantled railway corridor — an important local habitat for wildlife.

We regularly record hedgehogs visiting our garden on our nightly wildlife livestream. This is real, repeated, time-stamped evidence that hedgehogs are actively using the surrounding residential habitat.

For a hedgehog, our gardens aren’t separate little islands. Collectively, they form part of its landscape.

🦔 Where are the Hedgehog Highways?

The revised development shows numerous individual gardens and boundaries, yet I can see no identified continuous network of 13cm × 13cm Hedgehog Highways on the illustrative plan.

That’s a serious missed opportunity.

A tiny opening at the bottom of a suitable fence costs virtually nothing when incorporated during construction, but collectively those openings can allow hedgehogs to continue travelling between gardens and feeding and nesting areas.

Without them, a development can turn previously connected habitat into a series of inaccessible compartments.

We want wildlife connectivity designed in from the beginning and secured as part of the development, rather than left for individual householders to think about afterwards.

🚶 And now there’s another concern

The revised plan specifically identifies an “Access to dismantled railway line.” 

We strongly object to creating pedestrian access from the development into this wildlife corridor.

The old railway should remain a relatively undisturbed habitat for wildlife — not become an additional recreational route for the housing development.

Opening access could bring increased footfall, dog walking, disturbance and pressure on vegetation. Over time it could also create demands for lighting, surfacing, clearance, signage or other infrastructure.

There are public-safety concerns too. If a development actively provides an access point to the old railway, the suitability and implications of encouraging people to use that corridor need proper consideration.

And the development already proposes 394m² of public open space within the site itself. 

🌙 People out. Wildlife through.

We are asking for the proposed pedestrian access to the railway corridor to be removed.

But that absolutely does not mean sealing the boundary against wildlife.

Quite the opposite.

We want a boundary that prevents public access while allowing wildlife — particularly hedgehogs — to move through it.

The aim should be to maintain ecological connectivity:

Railway wildlife corridor ↔ development ↔ neighbouring gardens

We are also asking for wildlife-sensitive lighting so that these movement routes remain as dark and undisturbed as possible.

🌱 Wildlife protection needs to be guaranteed

The developer’s revised plan describes the proposed soft landscaping as “indicative” and “subject to detailed design.” 

That’s precisely why ecological measures shouldn’t simply be attractive green areas drawn on a plan.

We are asking for enforceable measures including Hedgehog Highways, connected habitat, retained vegetation, wildlife-sensitive lighting and protection of the railway corridor from recreational disturbance.

📣 Would you like to object?

Supporters who wish to comment on the planning application can submit their own representation to North Norfolk District Council.

The application is:

PO/26/0375 — Residential Development, Former Garden Centre, Overstrand

Please make your comments in your own words and concentrate on the planning and ecological issues that genuinely concern you.

You might want to consider habitat connectivity, Hedgehog Highways, protection of existing trees and hedgerows, lighting and nocturnal wildlife, or the proposed pedestrian access to the dismantled railway corridor.

View planning application PO/26/0375 and submit comments⁠ 👉🏻https://idoxpa.north-norfolk.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=TAJGXELNGLL00&activeTab=summary

🦔 Why this matters beyond Overstrand

This is exactly why our national campaign matters.

Hedgehog habitat isn’t necessarily one large nature reserve. It can be your garden, your neighbour’s garden, a hedge, a verge, an old railway embankment and all the little connections between them.

Lose those connections one development at a time and eventually hedgehogs have nowhere to go.

We can build homes while making space for wildlife. A 13cm hole in a fence is hardly an unreasonable demand from a hedgehog. 🦔

Please continue signing and sharing our campaign for stronger legal protection:

Sign & share the Hedgehog Protection Petition⁠

Keep the railway corridor wild.
Keep our habitats connected.
Give hedgehogs a future. 💚🦔