Date: 19/06/2009
A nature conservation area damaged by rogue building work is well on the road to recovery, according to wildlife experts.
Species-rich grassland off Dale Road, Buxton was badly damaged in March last year when now-defunct Belle Air Homes started building houses without planning permission.
High Peak Borough Council acted within days by serving a Stop Notice that brought work to a halt the following month. Sadly, the site had already suffered serious damage.
However, the council has since worked with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, the administrators for Belle Air Homes and the new site owner, Elan Homes, in a limited intervention programme that is allowing the natural plant life to recover.
And the wildlife trust has said that the approach is working.
Cllr Linda Baldry, Executive Councillor for Planning, explained: "After we'd carried out some limited land regrading, the wildlife trust advised that any effort to reinstate the whole site would have actually damaged the grassland still further and that the best tactic would be to allow the plant life to recuperate naturally.
"Therefore, we and our partners have been sensitively managing the site to encourage its natural regeneration", she went on.
The site is made up of species-rich grassland that was once typical of the limestone dales but is becoming increasingly rare. The land is a natural habitat for invertebrates.
Future residential development by Elan Homes will focus on land closer to the railway bridge and will not affect the nature conservation area.