Essex Wildlife Trust is strongly opposed to the allocation of Hammonds Farm as a Strategic Growth Site.
Background and detail
Chelmsford City Council are currently reviewing their local plan, and as part of that process they recently consulted on their Preferred Options. This document sets out where the council want new homes to be built. One of the sites being proposed by the council – initially for 3,000 houses and ultimately for 4,500 houses – is Hammonds Farm.
The Trust is strongly opposed to the allocation of Hammonds Farm as a Strategic Growth Site (Policy 16a – East Chelmsford Garden Community). Siting a new “garden community” in this location will be highly damaging to the local ecology, local wildlife sites, a Trust nature reserve, and nationally important designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
Hammonds Farm lies in a very sensitive landscape to the east of Chelmsford, between the winding River Chelmer and the highly designated ancient woodlands and heathland of the Danbury Ridge. In our view this isn’t an environmentally sustainable location and a development of this size will result in highly damaging impacts on rare habitats and vulnerable protected species.
Several sites designated for their wildlife value will be adversely impacted by the proposals. These include the nationally important Blakes Wood and Lingwood Common SSSI and Woodham Walter Common SSSI, Waterhall Meadows Local Wildlife Site, which is an Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserve, and three other adjacent Local Wildlife Sites.
The Trust’s Waterhall Meadows nature reserve, on the banks of the Sandon Brook, lies directly adjacent to the proposed new development. This beautiful little grassland reserve lies on an old flood meadow, and includes a small spinney and an area of dense scrub. It supports rare plants, a rich insect fauna including some rare species, eight species of warbler, and the much-loved and beautiful kingfisher. Red-listed nightingales hold two territories on the reserve and the amber-listed bullfinch is also recorded as breeding on the site.
The huge increase in disturbance (noise, lighting, littering, cat predation) and recreational impacts resulting from 3,000 new houses only a few metres away from the reserve boundary will completely destroy the ecological integrity of this important site, and most of its rare and special features will be permanently lost due to disturbance, nitrogen enrichment from dog waste, trampling of the vegetation and soil compaction and erosion.
The allocation site is also very close to Blakes Wood and Lingwood Common SSSI and Woodham Walter Common SSSI. These two nationally important sites form a sensitive mosaic of ancient woodland, heath and bog habitats, which are rare and of special importance because the underlying soils formed from glacial sands and gravels laid down during the Ice Age, creating the Danbury Ridge. The Danbury Ridge woodland complex is one of the most important woodland areas in Essex, second in extent only to Epping Forest. It supports rare woodland types and uncommon flora, including early purple orchid, common twayblade and greater butterfly-orchid.
These sensitive woodland habitats support a range of rare and protected breeding bird species, including red kite, hobby and goshawk. These raptor species use the River Chelmer and adjoining countryside, including Hammonds Farm, as hunting and feeding areas. The hobby and goshawk, along with the Red-listed lesser spotted woodpecker and hawfinch, and the Amber-listed honey buzzard, all hold breeding territories in the Danbury Ridge SSSI complex. In addition, the woodlands support over 50 nightingale territories, making this possibly the third largest breeding nightingale population in the country (after Lodge Hill and Middlewick Ranges).
The proposed new “garden community” would result in a significant increase in visitor pressure to the woodlands, resulting in an increase in harmful impacts such as the trampling of ground flora, soil erosion, nutrient enrichment from dog waste and increased fly-tipping and littering. General noise and disturbance impacts to wildlife would also increase, potentially resulting in the permanent loss of rare breeding species such as the hawfinch, lesser spotted woodpecker, hobby, goshawk and honey buzzard.
In addition, the proposals would damage the local ecology by removing adjacent farmland habitats that provide important dispersal and feeding habitat for a range of species, reduce the resilience of the meadow and woodland habitats and make them more vulnerable to change, and increase the amount of dust, light, water, air and soil pollution.
The proposed creation of a new country park on the western boundary of the new development would not be sufficient to compensate for the impacts of greatly increased visitor pressure on the ancient woodlands of the Danbury Ridge, which provide a unique visitor experience. They will inevitably be a seen as a highly desirable destination, especially as the development proposals include the enhancement of Grace’s Walk, which leads directly into Blakes Wood and Lingwood Common SSSI.
The Danbury Ridge ancient woodland complex is a nationally important biodiversity site, which forms an important core area of the Essex Local Nature Recovery Network. We strongly urge Chelmsford City Council to apply the precautionary principle in matters relating to the SSSIs of the Danbury Ridge because the consequences of underestimating the devastating impacts of increased recreational pressure are very significant.
We also strongly urge Chelmsford City Council to apply the principles laid out in both the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, as amended by the Environment Act 2021, and the guidelines established by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
The NPPF explicitly highlights the mitigation hierarchy, emphasizing that the first step—avoidance—should be applied diligently. Developments should only proceed if significant harm to biodiversity can be avoided, in the first instance, by selecting alternative sites with lesser environmental impacts. This principle is foundational to the Framework, guiding how local planning authorities assess and decide on site allocations.
Our review of the current proposals, alongside national policy guidelines and environmental legislation, highlights an urgent need to reassess the proposed housing allocation with an emphasis on the mitigation hierarchy, specifically the principle of avoidance.
Accordingly, we strongly urge Chelmsford City Council to remove this highly damaging site allocation from the Preferred Options Local Plan document and to locate new housing in an environmentally sustainable location.