While the Supported Housing Scheme at the Tufa Field is set to go ahead, the timescales for delivery remain in doubt. Leaving aside any delays due to funding, slow contractor bidding, and construction difficulties encountered as work progresses, there remain two key obstacles that are subject to legally required processes.
Himalayan Balsam is an invasive weed, flagged by this website over several years. This weed has now become significantly present on the site, covering some 0.5 hectare of the 1.9 hectare site. Himalayan Balsam is an invasive alien plant listed by H.M. Government as requiring special measures to control, manage and eradicate, with significant penalties including fines and prison sentences for illegal disposal.
Remedies include burying on site to a minimum depth of 3 feet, burning if not in contravention of local environmental controls, herbicidal spraying if there are not other sensitive plants or removal of infected soil to a controlled waste disposal site. All of these require license from the Environment Agency and use of a suitably-licensed specialist disposal company. Controls usually require two full growing seasons to implement. No soil movement is permitted until the area has been certified plant and seed-free, including on the wheels of contracting vehicles, where special wheel disinfecting may be required to prevent inadvertent spread.
Clearly this is an exhaustive process, and dependent on the growing season. Usually, new plant growth must be removed in the June to August period, before seed sets. This must be repeated the following year over the same period to ensure that all dormant seed from the previous season. has sprouted.
Since the suppression season has been missed for 2025, this means that work may not legally be allowed to start until September 2027.
Which brings us to Badgers. They have been ever-present in and around the Tufa Field and are regular, sometimes unwelcome, visitors neighbouring gardens.
Badgers are a protected species with specific rules regarding their treatment. Where Badget Setts are located, no development or disturbance is permitted within 30m of the sett entrance, nor is artificial light allowed in the vicinity.
Where it is not possible to accommodate Badgers at a developments ( and there are many mitigation options including special fencing, tree-planting and so on), a licence to relocate Badgers must be obtained from Natural England. These are only granted where a) planning permission has been granted that includes and ecological assessment of Badger presence, numbers and precise location, and b) only between the 1st July and 30th November each year.
Specialist contractors must be employed to assess the Badger numbers and activity, to construct artificial setts if a sett is to be closed for relocation, and to prevent badgers returning to the sett by way of installing one-way gates on the existing sett.
At September 2025 there are at least two Badger setts on site, one at the site boundary another in the middle of the main development area.
This sett is particularly interesting. In August 2023, this was a Fox Den, disturbed as part of the HydroGeology investigation.
It has now been taken over and extended by Badgers.
For more information on Badgers, to report Badger setts locations, road killed badgers or potential criminal actions in relation to badgers, contact the Badger Trust.
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