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Protection demanded for Loughborough Beauty Spot
Posted on 16/07/2008
Petition from local residents calling for Park Rangers rebuffed
After three goslings were brutally shot and saplings broken and stripped of bark, residents have had enough. They feel that Stonebow Washlands is a wildlife gem on the edge of town which could easily decline into a wasteland unless something is done.
The land which straddles Mount Grace Road near Stonebow School contains three small lakes, pubic art, a playing field, a water meadow and a network of footpaths leading out to the Garendon estate. It was created when housing was built and is owned and managed by Charnwood Borough Council with funds commuted from an S106 agreement.
Borough (Loughborough Garendon) and County (NW Loughborough) Councillor Max Hunt, who helped residents gather the 198 names on the petition, explained: “We want a Council presence on the site. We know Park Rangers can’t watch the area day and night, but they can,
- Get to know the users, troublemakers and parents
- Ensure safety equipment is always in place
- Pass on information to the police
- Repair damage as and when it occurs
- Ensure improvements are carried out
A bit of TLC will go a very long way. I believe there is a particular need for the Council to oversee the parks on the edge of town, like this one, Gorse Covert, Stapleford Park and Charnwood Water.”
Borough Councillor Roy Campsall (Independant councillor for Loughborough Garendon) said “The Council say: Stonebow Washlands has had relatively few incidents of low level anti social behaviour in the past two years’, but this is simply not true. It demonstrates how out of touch the Council is and why we need some surveillance. If Charnwood isn’t going to look after areas like Stonebow Washlands or Gorse Covert, what hope have they of looking after Garendon Park if it ever fell into their hands?
County Councillor Betty Newton (NW Loughborough) who collected names to the petition at Stonebow Primary School and represents the north side of the site said:
"The Police have given us excellent support and will testify to the problems we are experiencing; however they cannot perform the environmental care which this sensitive area requires. Reports reported by residents over the last 18 months have included:
- Graffiti
- Considerable problem with litter (ground,trees and in the lake/stream)
- Systematic destruction of young trees at lakeside
- Fires being lit by the lakeside.
- Swans attacked
- Coots and Moorhens nests destroyed
- Goslings shot
- Mature trees at Stonebow bridge pulled down
- More evidence of fires being lit at Stonebow bridge.
- Blackbrook stream blocked/damned by logs
- Motorbikes being ridden along pathways.
- Vandalism to the stone bridge and the wall surrounding the deer park
