Wildlife

The land at Sandrock Bends offers food, shelter and safety to a wide variety of birds, bees, bats and other species, including ancient woodland. Some of these species are endangered.

In 2020, Hastings Borough Council said the proposal should “avoid or mitigate any impact on the adjacent woodland and St Helens Wood Local Wildlife Site and Local Nature Reserve.”

It is difficult to see how this can happen when the proposed site includes ancient woodland, by definition irreplaceable.

Wildlife corridor

The area also forms a critical link or wildlife corridor between St Helen’s Woods (a designated local nature reserve) and the countryside of the High Weald. This project would cut off that link and dissuade or even prevent wildlife from leaving or entering the green spaces of Hastings, as you can see in this video.

Deer and other mammals, seeds, and insects pass between the High Weald and St Helen’s Woods via this corridor, as seen on our camera traps.

This corridor is essential for the health and continuity of a wide range of species, particularly in these times of climate change.

Effect of flooding on wildlife

In the Flooding section, you can learn about the risk of flooding this development will pose.

More water in this area will increase the risk of:

  • soil erosion

  • mudslides

  • habitat loss

  • water-borne pollution

St Helen’s Woods are a haven for a wide range of species, including English bluebells a rare and rapidly disappearing plant species. These and wildlife around the former pond area could suffer from polluted water run-off.

Species

The development site houses ancient trees, hedgerows, bat and badger habitats, and other rapidly declining natural features. They would be destroyed forever if this development goes ahead.

Some 577 species have been recorded in this area, according to a 2024 Sussex Biodiversity Report.

Species currently thriving there include:

  • at least seven types of bat, including some vulnerable and near-threatened species, according to the Bat Conservation Trust

  • badgers, a protected species

  • dormice, described by ZSL as “at risk of extinction”

  • birds with conservation concern status such as the:

    • song thrush, dunnock, wren, and bullfinch (Amber list of concern)

    • Greenfinch and spotted flycatcher (Red list, or endangered) 

    • Incidentally, Japanese Knotweed is present in the area. Disturbing the ground could trigger its spread into St. Helen’s Woods if not dealt with effectively. 

Below, see some examples of the wide range of species at risk. For a full list of the many species present in the development area, click here.

Relevant Points from the Government National Planning Policy Framework

Planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by: a) protecting and enhancing valued landscapes, sites of biodiversity or geological value and soils (in a manner commensurate with their statutory status or identified quality in the development plan); b) recognising the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside, and the wider benefits from natural capital and ecosystem services – including the economic and other benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land, and of trees and woodland;

d) minimising impacts on and providing net gains for biodiversity, including by establishing coherent ecological networks that are more resilient to current and future pressures and incorporating features which support priority or threatened species such as swifts, bats and hedgehogs; e) preventing new and existing development from contributing to, being put at unacceptable risk from, or being adversely affected by, unacceptable levels of soil, air, water or noise pollution or land instability. Development should, wherever possible, help to improve local environmental conditions such as air and water quality, taking into account relevant information such as river basin management.

Plans should: distinguish between the hierarchy of international, national and locally designated sites; allocate land with the least environmental or amenity value, where consistent with other policies in this Framework65; take a strategic approach to maintaining and enhancing networks of habitats and green infrastructure; and plan for the enhancement of natural capital at a catchment or landscape scale across local authority boundaries.

To protect and enhance biodiversity and geodiversity, plans should: a) Identify, map and safeguard components of local wildlife-rich habitats and wider ecological networks, including the hierarchy of international, national and locally designated sites of importance for biodiversity68; wildlife corridors and stepping stones that connect them; and areas identified by national and local partnerships for habitat management, enhancement, restoration or creation69; and b) promote the conservation, restoration and enhancement of priority habitats, ecological networks and the protection and recovery of priority species; and identify and pursue opportunities for securing measurable net gains for biodiversity

When determining planning applications, local planning authorities should apply the following principles: a) if significant harm to biodiversity resulting from a development cannot be avoided (through locating on an alternative site with less harmful impacts), adequately mitigated, or, as a last resort, compensated for, then planning permission should be refused;

c) development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats (such as ancient woodland and ancient or veteran trees) should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons70 and a suitable compensation strategy exists; and d) development whose primary objective is to conserve or enhance biodiversity should be supported; while opportunities to improve biodiversity in and around developments should be integrated as part of their design, especially where this can secure measurable net gains for biodiversity or enhance public access to nature where this is appropriate.