There have been quite a few column inches used up recently to debate the clearance of scrub at Casbrook Common, near Timsbury and the negative effect it has on the wildlife in the area (Advertiser, April 21,28).

I would agree that this is a subject worthy of debate but at the end of the day it is private land and the owners concerned have a right to do with it as they wish. They claim that no rules or regulations have been broken which the local council and Hampshire Police appear to agree with, so ultimately there's nothing really that anyone can practically do about it.

READ MORE HERE: Anger over destruction of wildlife habitat

Compare this with the situation to the west of Cupernham Lane in Romsey where developers are having an absolute field day building over as much of the land as they possibly can with total impunity, or so it seems. Local naturalist Andy Lester complained a while back about land clearance off Cupernham Lane being detrimental for local nightingales but that apart, I don't recall many other voices being raised in anger against this excessive development which is so close to the canal and the Fishlake Meadow Nature Reserve and I am sure that the damage caused by these developments is far greater than the Casbrook Common scrub clearance could ever be.

SEE ALSO: Landowner hits back at criticism

Of course, nowhere can stay the same for ever but building work in Romsey seems to be going on apace over the past few years and soon it seems that the description of a pleasant market town, that is frequently applied to Romsey, will certainly no longer apply as it rapidly turns into a dormitory town for Southampton despite what the recent Sunday Times survey claimed, which actually referred to the Test Valley as one of the best places to live and not just to Romsey specifically as the article in the Advertiser implied. It seems a great shame that we are intent on destroying the very essence of what attracts people to live in Romsey in the first place as it expands with no thought for the natural world.

Philip Hugill,

Chivers Road,

Romsey

 

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