Forty people join reserve guided walk 
About 40 people joined a guided walk and explored a newly extended nature reserve on Saturday. July 19.
The walk around Hempstead Meadows, in Uckfield, was led by ecologist Dr Martyn Stenning and attended by Wealden MP Mr Charles Hendry who cut a ribbon to mark the official opening of the new section of the reserve.
The historic wetland, and a boardwalk across it, is being given to the town council by Rydon Homes as part of a planning agreement relating to its development in Sunnybrooke, off Hempstead Road.
Mr Hendry said it was ‘fantastic’ that an agreement had been reached to secure something future generations could cherish, something of lasting benefit to the community. 
Press release added to site Tuesday, July 22, 2008. Story and picture appeared in the Courier on p4 on Friday, July 25, 2008, see above, with a taster on p1. There was also a story and picture on p7 of the leader on Thursday, July 24, 2008, see right.
Chance to join guided walk of historic wetland
MP to open extension to reserve
Butterflies, dragonflies and timid snipe might be seen on a guided walk which includes the official opening of an extension to the Hempstead Meadows Local Nature Reserve in Uckfield on Saturday (July 19).
Reserve chairman Dr Martyn Stenning has organised the event, which is being sponsored by developer Rydon Homes, as part of the town’s festival. It is open to the public, with entry free of charge and refreshments provided by the Rotary Club.
The reserve extension, and a boardwalk across it, are being given to the town council by Rydon Homes as part of a planning agreement relating to its develo
pment in Sunnybrooke, off Hempstead Road.
Dr Stenning said it was extremely important to conserve the ‘primeval wetland’ and it was right to bring it into the nature reserve.
He added it was difficult to predict exactly what wildlife would be spotted on the day but it would be possible to see an important wetland plant, greater tussock sedge, many kinds of wild flowers and rare black poplars – the country’s tallest native tree in danger of extinction - planted as a contribution to a species recovery programme.
A wildlife display will be open to visitors from 10am in a tent next to the Somerfield car park, with the guided walk setting off from there shortly afterwards. The official opening of the extension, by Wealden MP Charles Hendry, will take place at about 11am and the walk is due to continue through the new section finishing at about 12.30pm back in the centre of town.
Press release added to site Wednesday, July 16, 2008. It appeared in The Argus on p26 on Thursday, July 17, see above left, was mentioned in the Leader the same day on p2 and appeared in the Courier on p4, see above right, on Friday, July 18. Dr Stenning was interviewed on Uckfield FM on Friday, July 18.
For more information about the Sunnybrooke homes development please contact Yvonne Wood, Clive Rowe and Sue Rogers at the Rydon Homes Show Home and Marketing Suite which is open daily from 10am to 5pm, telephone 01825 769010.
Working on a boardwalk which crosses the extension to the Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve in Uckfield are, from the left, Jim Figg, Chris Buckingham and Rob Gordon.
Plans for official opening of reserve extension
The official opening of an extension to the Hempstead Meadows Local Nature Reserve in Uckfield is due to take place during the town’s festival in July.
The event is being organised by reserve chairman Dr Martyn Stenning, and sponsored by
developer Rydon Homes, as part of an open day traditionally held during the festival.
The reserve extension, and a boardwalk across it, are being given to the town council by Rydon Homes as part of a planning agreement relating to its development in Sunnybrooke, off Hempstead Road.
Managing director Mr John Kitchin said he was delighted to be able to sponsor a festival event which involved a guided tour of the nature reserve as a whole.
‘We recognise that the historic wetland next to our 
development is of great conservation importance and are pleased it can be incorporated into the existing nature reserve,’ he said.
Dr Stenning said he hoped a celebrity would take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, July 19. A wildlife display would be open to visitors from 10am, in a tent next to the Somerfield car park, and a guided walk would take place. The official opening of the extension would take place at about 11am and the guided walk would continue through the new section finishing at about 12.30pm back in the centre of town.
Refreshments will be donated by Uckfield Rotary Club, which has provided seats in the reserve and has members on the advisory committee.
The open day is one of two festival events being sponsored by Rydon Homes. They are also sponsoring the Crowborough Youth Jazz Orchestra – who perform at Uckfield Civic Centre on Thursday, July 17 - with the aim of supporting a group from a town where another of their developments is progressing. Fifty-five new homes are being built at Heatherview Farm. They will be accessed from Hill Rise, off Green Lane.
Mr Bob De’Ath, a member of the Uckfield Festival sponsorship committee said: 'The festival is run by volunteers and this year is more heavily dependent on support from businesses like Rydon Homes than it has been before. We have previously been successful in raising funds through arts bodies and charities but in the future business support will be increasingly important. We are grateful to all those who are supporting us and would be pleased to hear from anybody else who might like to get involved.'
Added to site Friday, May 9, 20008. Story was p19 lead with a picture in the Courier on Friday, May 16, 2008 (see top right) and on p3 with a picture in the Leader on Thursday, May 15, (bottom right).
Final phase of development proposed
(This planning application was refused on April 2, 2008. Rydon Homes is reviewing its proposal)
Plans have been submitted for the final phase of a development by Rydon Homes off Hempstead Lane, in Uckfield.
The latest scheme, before Wealden Council, is for five detached homes to the west of the former Sunnybrooke House.
They would be accessed through the Sunnybrooke House site, where a development of 11 homes is currently being 
completed, and to the north of a further five homes also sharing the access.
A design statement from Rydon says this is a rare opportunity to provide ‘quality houses’ close to the town centre. It says Hempstead Lane is one of the last remaining areas of Uckfield where the character of larger detached houses has been retained and the market for larger individually designed homes was not currently being catered for.
The site is pres
ently vacant ground. Slow worms have already been moved to specially prepared land nearby and badger setts along the southern boundary were closed under licence when plans for the other five houses were approved.
(Added to site Sunday, February 17, 2008. A press release was distributed on Monday, February 18, and used on p5 of the Sussex Express on Friday, February 22, p7 of the Courier the same day, p2 of the Leader on Thursday, 21, and in Uckfield Today on Saturday, February 23, 2008.)
New homes for reptiles and bees
Homes for reptiles and bumblebees are being built at the same time as more sophisticated plans are made to start work on new properties
for people.
The habitat these creatures prefer include rockeries or collapsed stone walls and so developer Rydon Homes is taking up the challenge of building a sturdy version of a collapsed wall as a condition of planning permission to build two new houses at the bottom of Sunnybrooke Close, off Hempstead Lane, Uckfield.
Rydon is also, as part of the plan, in the process of giving adjacent historic wetland, which is a haven for wildlife, to Uckfield Town Council to be incorporated into its Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve.
The specification for the collapsed wall was laid out in an ecology report which accompanied the Rydon Homes planning application.
It must have a large number of cracks, gaps and crevices and be built with stones heavy enough so they are not easily displaced. Small amounts of mortar can be used to hold the feature together without filling up the valuable gaps and the wall should be a metre or more in width and three metres or more in length.
Once co
mpleted this des res should attract not only the reptiles it is specifically designed for, but also creatures like snails, beetles, bumblebees, small mammals and anything that preys on them like badgers and birds.
Next door will be the two new homes for people, accessed from Sunnybrooke Close.
The design approach taken there was described as ‘unique’ by a Wealden officer who recommended approval of the planning application to members of the council’s development control, north, sub-committee.
One of the homes was singled out in a report to the sub-committee as ‘by far the more remarkable of the two’ being elongated, set into the contours of a slope and having a flat roof.
‘The design also provokes interest being removed from a prevailing approach which 
mimics standards from the previous century. It is considered this site, within the development boundary, does offer an opportunity for a fresh innovative approach which will provoke thought and interest in design and materials without compromising any special designations or the quality of the wider countryside,’ said the report.
Managing director for Rydon Homes, John Kitchin, said both houses should achieve an eco homes standard of ‘very good’ because of their use of natural resources like solar energy for hot water, provision of low energy lighting and filtered stored rainwater for washing the car or watering the garden.
The design of these homes represented a new departure for Rydon, he said. The developer was known for its traditional style but the site for these homes, which will have spectacular views over historic wetland, called for something different.
Rydon Homes is currently building on two other sites off Hempstead Lane, one is a development of 11 homes and the other of five.
It is also awaiting permission to open a new board walk and path, which will link the centre of town to the recreation area in Hempstead Lane. East Sussex County Council is in the process of drawing up an order allowing the footpath to be opened to the public. (Added to site Monday, November 5, 2007. The story was used on p3 of the Uckfield Leader on Thursday, November 8, 2007, (see bottom cutting) and p5 of the Sussex Express on Friday, November 9, 2007, (see middle cutting). It was lead story on the Express website on Monday, November 12, and the Kent and Sussex Courier followed the story up using it as lead on p23 on Friday, November 16, 2007 (top cutting).
River walk due to open A river walk from the centre of Uckfield eastwards to the Hempstead Fields Estate is due to open this summer.
It will start at the Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve, cross a board and stone path over ecolo
gically important wetland and finish at Roman Way.
The wetland has been isolated and untouched for thousands of years and is home to rare species of wildlife, birds and plants. The new path across it will, for the first time, make authorised access possible.
The plan is to incorporate the wetland, and possibly another section now being offered to the council, into the Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve which is just off the High Street behind Somerfield.
There is great excitement about this possibility. Assistant town clerk Christine Wheatley said the wetland was ‘beautiful’ and dramatically different from the neighbouring nature reserve.
Ecologist Martyn Stenning said it was of ‘extremely high ecological value’ and East Sussex County Council ranger Jo Heading who looks after the town’s nature reserves said it would be a ‘fantastic resource’ for townspeople.
The wetland and board walk are being given to Uckfield Town Council by developers Rydon Homes as part of a planning agreement for a development off Hempstead Lane.
The company is building on two sites in the area, one of 11 homes and the other of five and has recently submitted plans to build two more at the bottom of Sunnybrooke Close.
As part of the latest application the East Grinstead-based company is offering the further section of wetland to the town council. In the future, the company says, it might be possible to build a pontoon-type wildlife viewing platform there.
Design development director for Rydon Homes, Roger Povey said the company was pleased to be able to offer the land and path to the town council. They hoped people would enjoy exploring an extended nature reserve.
Dr Stenning, an ecologist attached to the University of Susssex at Falmer, who chairs the Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve advisory committee said he had been opposed to any development of the Sunnybrooke land off Hempstead Road but he would be pleased to see the wetland afforded protection in the future as a nature reserve.
Flood plain wetland was traditionally drained by farmers and used for grazing. A hay crop would have been harvested in June and animals would have grazed until October before being moved to higher ground because of the flood risk.
The current nature reserve would have been grazed in this way and was being similarly managed by the town council but the wetland had been untouched and remained wet all year round.
‘You could walk in there and completely disappear because it is a bog,’ said Dr Stenning. ‘It is probably as dangerous as Dartmoor.’
But for this reason it was a habitat that supported a wide variety of rare wetland species of birds, plants and insects, he said.
(Added to site Friday, June 8, 2007. Press release used as p5 lead in Sussex Express, June 15, 2007. Story was puffed on the front page of The Leader and carried inside at the top of p2 on Thursday, June 14. It was in the Courier on Friday, June 29 on p39)
Read about the history of Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve and about the wildlife living within the wetland by following this link to our Hempstead Meadows page. More