Plan for new pond and woodland area near Telford can go ahead

To compensate for the damage caused through the water abstraction process funding has been provided to improve habitats in the River Strine catchment area.

Plans have been approved by Telford & Wrekin Council for a pond and two bunds to be created on the Rodwaymoor Plantations off Crudgington Moor Road in Crudgington.

The project is being funded by Severn Trent, in conjunction with the Environment Agency.

A biodiversity statement from the Shropshire Wildlife Trust said: “This pond will form part of this habitat improvement project. The pond, and adjoining ditch restoration works, will create a habitat for amphibians and insects, as well as wading birds and mammals.”

The site is encircled by drains of the River Strine which will also be enhanced. In the middle of the plantation is a pond which is known to support frogspawn and tadpoles.

“The owner of the land is planning to sequentially fell the plantation trees, predominantly poplar but also willow and ash and replant to create a mixed deciduous woodland with greater benefits for wildlife,” added the Wildlife Trust.

“The woodland will be planted to create wide rides of large trees such as oak and then intersperse with smaller tree species such as guelder rose and hazel. This will create a vast diversity of habitat types.

“The proposed site for the pond will be left to create large, open, margins of wetland species to create a corridor between the pond and surrounding woodland.

“Ponds are havens for biodiversity, supporting a disproportionately high number of species for their size.

“This pond will not only enhance an area that has very little economic value but will also provide a habitat for a variety of species from amphibians and insects to birds and mammals.

“The landowner has agreed to the terms of the project and the contractors carrying out the work will follow guidance from the Wildlife Trust when excavating.”

The land was previously managed as a poplar plantation and landowner is now felling the poplar to manage the land for wildlife.

Applicant Stephen Trowbridge said that the plantation has an existing pond which is known to support amphibians.

“The understorey in the plantation is species-rich and is improving as more light is reaching the floor as the poplars are thinned,” added the applicant.

Telford & Wrekin Council approved the scheme after its planning officer concluded that the scale and design ‘is acceptable and would not harm the character and appearance of the application site and its surrounding area’.

“It is considered that the development will also respect and respond positively to its context and that of the surrounding area and given the positioning of the works on the application site, they will not be prominent from the nearby street scene,” concluded the planning officer.