We are still awaiting a decision notice, almost six months after Newcastle City Council gave the green light to plans for Cell A/B1 of Newcastle Great Park.

In the meantime, we were invited to attend a Newcastle Great Park Consortium steering group meeting, where we learned that it would be 'very tricky' to maintain the Brown Hare population around Newcastle Great Park, as development at Cell A/B1 would see the loss of one of the last remaining habitats.

Brown hares are in steep decline and are a 'priority species' under the UK's biodiversity action plan and in the Newcastle and North Tyneside BAP.

In Newcastle, Brown Hare is confined to the north and west of the city in agricultural areas around Dinnington and Newcastle Great Park.

The impact on Brown Hare was not even mentioned in the committee report for Cell A/B1, despite being a priority species and despite the BAP being a material consideration in planning decisions.