Campsite in the Woods

Over the last couple of years, a lot of work has been done on the footpath through the woods on the far side of the bridge from Hay. It's part of the Offa's Dyke Path, and the woodland it runs through is under new ownership. They've cleared a lot of undergrowth as well, and cut down some of the trees.

Now the owners, at The Start B&B just across the road from the woodland, want to turn the area into a camp site, with 9 "safari" tents, a café, shower and toilet block, and a tree house. They also want to create a new car park and turning area - at present it's not possible to get cars into the area, and until recently the only access was steps, which has now been turned into a ramp.

Alan Nicholls has been leafletting local houses with his objections to the scheme - this is how I found out about it. He is concerned about the impact on the wildlife on the site, and the difficulty of access (cars do tend to come down that hill to the bridge very fast). He's also concerned that this could be the 'thin edge of a wedge' - if planning approval was given for this camp site, it might encourage others to apply. In fact, there was an application some time ago on the other side of the road from the present site, more or less opposite the church across the river, which was turned down.

I have to admit I groaned when I saw the inclusion of a café in the plans - Hay is full of cafes, and only two minutes walk away. The toilets also worried me, until I saw on the plans that they will be composting toilets. The Community Garden, just up the hill on the other side of the road, has a composting toilet, which seems to work well. The "tree house" isn't what I'd call a treehouse, either - the plans are for a wooden hut on stilts with trees round it.

The consultation runs until 7th November, and the full details can be found online at Powys Planning Applications under the code 18/0688/FUL.

I've been reading the Ecology Report on the site, commissioned by Mr and Mrs Farnworth at The Start. It was carried out by an experienced ecologist called Stephen West, who looked for signs of all the species which need to be protected by law, such as bats, barn owls, badgers, dormice and crested newts.
The report says that no further trees are going to be cut down, and the lighting for the area is going to be low level, with no floodlights, and designed to have the minimum impact on nocturnal species.
The ecologist also laid out a plan of woodland management - the owners are intending to put up bird, bat and mammal boxes to encourage roosting and nesting, which would be monitored for two years after installation. He even considers that the woodland management could improve the conditions for dormice, by encouraging a shrub layer throughout the woodland for them to move through and feed on.
They will also be planting native species of trees and shrubs as screens around the camping sites, such as hazel, crab apple, oak, rowan and birch. They are also planning the proposed works so as not to damage any tree roots on the site, and they will be keeping dead wood features (dead tree trunks, for instance) which are important for insects.