When you buy a lottery ticket you don't expect the “good cause” to be destruction of a designated Local Nature Reserve.
15 wildlife  groups, including RSPB  and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are objecting to an “Olympic legacy” development to be funded by Sport England, within the  bird Reserve, the Sanctuary, Derby.
Naturalist Chris Packham has called the plan “a vile act of wanton vandalism”.
The floodlit cycle training and race circuit plus mountain bike area will destroy 20% of the habitat and adversely impact 40% more of the site, which is owned by Derby City Council. The site has an impressive bird list of over 90 species, 56 having Conservation status. It is the only reserve in the city to have shy, ground nesting birds such as skylark, little ringed plover, and lapwing.
If a cycle race circuit here rides rough-shod over our Reserve it will signal to funding bodies and local councils that Local Nature Reserves are a soft target anywhere else.
We welcome a race circuit in Derby, but not on this small Reserve. There is suitable, council owned land available just two miles away.

Further information available at :

https://www.facebook.com/TheSanctuaryDerby

http://www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/what-we-do/sanctuary-local-nature-reserve