Marringdean Road

This project concerned an appeal site proposed for housing adjacent to ancient woodland to north and east. On exchange of evidence ahead of the Inquiry, it was apparent that the LPA had taken new ground, to argue that the appeal site itself was, or should be recorded as, ancient woodland.

There was no adequate cartographic evidence to support ancientness, and the site had been used during WWII as a Prisoner of War camp. The latter both resulted in and confirmed a substantial history of development and disturbance that was wholly inconsistent with the concept of continuously wooded since at least 1600.

Part of our evidence before the Inquiry included a detailed interpretation of an aerial photograph from 1947, which identified the full scale and impact of the former PoW camp use, effectively killing off the notion of the site as ancient woodland. The appeal was allowed.