A conservation group has rallied to defend a nature reserve in the face of a new planning application.

Ham & High: View through the fence of the site which backs onto Parkland Walk, the owners of which are behind a proposal to allow construction vehicles access to the site near to the Holmesdale Rd entrance via the walk.View through the fence of the site which backs onto Parkland Walk, the owners of which are behind a proposal to allow construction vehicles access to the site near to the Holmesdale Rd entrance via the walk. (Image: Archant)

Friends of Parkland Walk, which last year campaigned to save the leafy trail from becoming a thoroughfare for lorries as part of redevelopment plans, has determined to fight a revised application.

Treasurer Cathy Meeus said: “These plans mean disruption and danger for the people who use the walk – cyclists, joggers, families and children who use the route to get to school.”

She added: “The council should not benefit the property development aspirations of

a single taxpayer at the expense of the thousands of people who enjoy the nature reserve.”

Historic covenants ban vehicles from accessing the old railway cottage in Francis Place, which is surrounded by protected green space without road access.

Last summer the group campaigned against a construction management plan (CMP) that would have allowed 26-ton HGVs to drive along Parkland Walk to access the redevelopment site.

Plans for the redevelopment of the site into a seven-bedroom home with basement were secured early last year, but the renewed CMP application is pending.

Ms Meeus said: “The new revised plan seems to scale down the size of the vehicles but it still breaks every aspect of the covenants which were put in place when the property was sold in order to protect the environment.”

The revised CMP anticipates that construction will take 61 weeks and proposes the use of skips for both the delivery and removal of soil from the site via the entrance on Holmesdale Road.

Other plans in the application include the pumping of concrete to the site via a pipe across the path from the gate to the house for 10 weeks, as well as the installation of two electrical car charging points on Holmesdale Road.

Ms Meeus added: “Allowing two cars to charge themselves on the road hardly compensates the thousands of people whose enjoyment of the walk would be disrupted.”