Friends of Burlish Meadows co-founder Jason Kernohan said the site was home to a number of rare species
- Published
A new community group has been formed to fight plans by a football club to build several new pitches on green belt land.
Kidderminster Harriers want to buy and develop 8.5 hectares of land at Burlish Meadows, a 40-hectare country park near Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire.
The club says the development will benefit the community and encourage children to take up sport, but the Friends of Burlish Meadow say it will damage the local ecosystem.
"Burlish is a big green lung," said the group's co-founder Jason Kernohan. "It's vital for people for recreation, it's vital for wildlife."
Burlish Meadows was previously home to a golf course, but Wyre Forest District Council took over the site in 2018 and turned it into a conservation area.
Skylarks and toads are among the species found at Burlish Meadows
Kernohan said he was not against more pitches being built, but suggested a brownfield site would be more suitable for redevelopment.
He said Burlish Meadows was an acid grassland, a rare habitat in Worcestershire.
"There are some scarce species that you don't get in other areas in the county," he said. "One butterfly, the white letter hairstreak, occurs here, and it's one of the few places I know in Worcestershire where it occurs.
"There's a rare plant here called tower mustard that only occurs in less than 30 sites across the whole of Britain.
"To lose such biodiversity would be be terrible."
Harriers' plans include four full-size pitches, three of which would be artificial, and two junior pitches.
Owner Richard Lane said the new pitches would have a "lasting impact" on the community.
"Every day, our academy and foundation coaches see the positive difference football can make through coaching, education and our work across the community," he said.
"This proposal would allow us to build on that for many years to come."
Matthew Terry, of the Friends of Burlish Meadows, said developing the site would inevitably affect the neighbouring nature reserve
Lane added that the development would not affect Burlish Top Nature Reserve, which adjoins the Meadows.
"But nature doesn't know the difference between Burlish Meadows and Burlish Top," said Matthew Terry, another of the Friends. "And the whole point of Burlish Meadows was to take pressure off Burlish Top, which was seeing significant overuse."
He added the site was one of very few outdoor spaces in the area flat enough to be enjoyed by people with limited mobility.
The Meadows was previously the site of a golf course before being redeveloped as a conservation area
David Ross, Wyre Forest District Council 's cabinet member for finance and the capital portfolio, said: "We are aware that campaigners have raised concerns regarding the potential sale of part of Burlish Country Park.
"No decision has been made at this stage.
"The matter is due to be considered by cabinet on Thursday and it would not be appropriate to comment ahead of councillors making their decision."
<small>Source: BBC Science</small>
