Support

Representation ID: 18276

Received: 04/10/2021

Respondent: Mr Lance Cartwright

SUPPORT POLICY DSA4 Corbett Meadow Local Green Space (Dudley)

As a long-standing local resident I have over the years witnessed extensive housing development such as Withymoor Village in Amblecote reducing the amount of natural green space in the ward to an absolute minimum with only Corbett Meadow remaining untouched as a precious urban green space in the area. Further housing development over and above that now approved for the nearby Old Wharf Road brown-field site will place even more significant pressure on an already overloaded infrastructure such as roads, GP surgeries and schools which have all recorded recent concerns.

The Corbett Meadow has massive potential for green social prescribing by the landowners (Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) in line with modern trends and NHS Policy. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of being outdoors to people’s mental and physical health, as well as the inequality of access to green space.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to significantly expanding the number of social prescribing link workers in primary care. Social prescribing and community-based support enable GPs, other health and care practitioners and local agencies to refer people to a link worker who gives people time and focuses on what matters to the individual. For some people this will be green social prescribing, which links them to nature-based interventions and activities, such as local walking for health schemes, community gardening and food-growing projects. Greater access to green space is connected to better health and wellbeing. Doing activities in green spaces or simply spending time in nature is beneficial in different ways. For example, going for a walk at their local park can help patients manage their weight and prevent chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Green spaces also promote a sense of being connected to nature as well as encouraging social connections with others. These connections are good for our mental health and wellbeing, helping us experience lower levels of stress, fatigue and anxiety, among other benefits.

Interacting with green spaces is particularly beneficial for vulnerable populations. Those with greater access to green space experience lower levels of health inequalities linked to income deprivation (Mitchell & Popham, 2008). Research also shows that equitable access to green spaces in England alone could save the NHS £2.1 billion every year (An Estimate of the Economic and Health Value and Cost Effectiveness of the Expanded WHI Scheme 2009, 2009).

Our recent experience with Covid-19 has demonstrated the need for greater access to green space - as these areas have been havens for communities during these hard times - as well as ensuring a more sustainable health system through a decrease in demand for services. Green prescribing can tackle both these issues and remove the claimed need to sell the meadow for housing development as a short-term financial gain.

I fully support the proposal for the Corbett Meadow to be designated as a Local Green Space as outlined in the comprehensive LGS application document.

SUPPORT POLICY ENV 1 Nature Conservation and designation of Corbett Meadow as SLINC

The wildlife value of the Corbett Meadow is well documented in the LGS application and has been recently (February 2021) endorsed by a local, professional and well-known wildlife correspondent who states more eloquently than I ever could:

“My first impression was incredulity - how had this gem survived intact for so long in a built-up area? Far from being the typical flat, sports-pitch urban green space, this relatively small area was wonderfully contoured and featured marshy hollows, a steep scarp, two willow-lined pools and many mature trees, survivors of its parkland past. Needless to say, these features are in very short supply within Dudley Borough.

On the highest parts of the meadow, I was keen to inspect the veteran Hawthorns that appeared to follow an old hedge-line. For over a decade, I’ve been recording a nationally scarce and local insect, the Hawthorn Jewel beetle, which only breeds in old and wizened hawthorns. It’s not called a jewel for nothing: this beautiful bullet-shaped beetle is a metallic coppery-violet colour and emerges in midsummer from the thinner branches where its grub has fed on dead wood. A bitterly cold February morning wouldn’t seem the best time to look for them but Hawthorn Jewel Beetles leave clues. The adult beetle is rounded on top and flat underneath and so it creates an unmistakable D-shaped exit-hole when it emerges in July. I’d never seen them in Stourbridge before or indeed anywhere in the Dudley Borough. Really old hawthorns are pretty scarce and the adult beetles are notoriously hard to find. But we will be looking out for them this summer at Corbett’s Meadow because I was delighted to find several exit-holes in these venerable trees; a real bonus.

I think that was my strongest impression of the meadow - that it is one of the most important ecological lynchpins in the Stourbridge area. It connects surrounding open spaces such as the allotments and the sports-pitch, with local gardens and parks. It acts as a reservoir for local wildlife especially those species which need more than a strip of road-verge or canal-bank. Take away this reservoir and the richness disappears. Connectivity of habitats in any area is important for many species from Butterflies to Newts and Toads and at a time when more of us are noticing and appreciating the wildlife on our doorsteps, it would be an unforgivable loss if we allow the meadow to disappear. Planting a few saplings or sowing a patch of wildflowers is no substitute for a rich and varied ecosystem that has taken so long to develop and which is a unique product of geology, local history and management.

Corbett’s Meadow is not just another piece of grassland: for many of its species, whether they are Palmate Newts or Small Heath Butterflies, it is a life-raft out of the past and its loss would be nothing short of a tragedy not only for local wildlife, but also for the future generations who I hope will be able to enjoy it and explore its history and natural history.”

How on earth can you disagree with that informed opinion of this unique site?

I fully support the proposal for the Corbett Meadow to be granted Nature Conservation designation as a SLINC.