An equestrian conservation group has savaged plans to dig up part of Epsom Downs to level the racecourse and create a wildlife habitat for the threatened small blue butterfly.
Epsom Racecourse submitted plans earlier this year to flatten the land at Tattenham Corner using 'fill material' from the downs to reduce their costs when erecting a temporary derby marquee each year. The plans were approved by the Epsom and Walton Downs Conservators on December 5, a decision which the Epsom Equestrian Conservation Group (EECG) claim is against byelaws governed by the Epsom and Walton Downs 1984 regulation act. As part of the plans, fill material, will be sourced from three sites at Ashtead Park Garden Centre, an area off Langley Vale Road, and 1,500m3 from the foot of Walton Downs which the EECG fear will cause disruption and damage to the Downs.
More than 100 20 tonne lorry loads are expected to travel from the foot of Walton Downs to Tattenham Corner Road down a narrow bridle way, currently used by walkers, riders and cyclists, for an estimated two month period. Hugh Craddock, BHS bridleway officer for Epsom and Walton Downs said: “Our primary concern is the impact of 113 lorry loads driving across the foot of Walton Hill.
“If you are riding, walking or jogging down there what are you going to do when you meet a 20 tonne lorry?
“It’s a narrow track and it’s not wide enough to accommodate a lorry.
“At the meeting nobody even discussed that point.”
The Epsom Downs is not a public space and is owned largely by Epsom Racecourse which is subject to regulation by the Epsom and Walton Downs Conservators and the 1984 act.
However while plans have been approved by the Conservators, the EECG say the extraction of material from the downs goes against the spirit of the act which empowers them to may byelaws: “For preventing any digging or taking of stone, chalk, soil or other materials or the taking of turf, sods, trees, flowers, shrubs, plants or grass.”
Caroline Baldock, chair of the Epsom Equestrian Conservation Group said: “We are completely amazed that they want to this when it is against the byelaws.
“We are going to lobby the planning committee.”
After material has been extracted from the Downs, the land will be made ‘permanently unusable’ by horse riders and will be turned into a habitat for the small blue butterfly, which although they are spread across the UK, are few in number.
A spokesperson for the Epsom and Walton Downs Conservators said: “The Conservators were informed that both the Racecourse and the Lower Mole Countryside Management Project had identified the proposed location for sourcing that fill material as being one which would benefit in terms of ecology if fill material was taken from it.
“This area therefore would help create a more ‘natural’ Downs through the establishment of Kidney Vetch and thus a provision of a habitat for the small blue butterfly - not necessarily a ‘necessity’, but certainly a positive outcome for protecting the biodiversity of our environment.
“The Conservators were also assured that that the Racecourse would appoint a reputable contractor to undertake the transportation of materials, and it was emphasised that it was in the Racecourse’s own interests that the process was properly managed and carried out in accordance with the Ecological Assessment and Design and Access Statement.
“Frequent review meetings will be taking place between the racecourse and the Conservators to ensure that all requirements are being complied with.”
No date for the work has currently been set with plans now subject to approval by planning officers and the leisure committee at Epsom and Ewell Council.
FACT FILE: Small blue butterfly- Cupido minimus • Britain’s smallest resident butterfly with a wing span that can be a little as 16mm.
• Colonies are isolated and it is only found in small pockets of sometimes less than 30 adults • Numbers have plummeted in recent years due to loss of chalk grassland habitats.
• It feeds on kidney vetch plants, which only grow on poor nutrient, alkaline soils.
• Despite its name it is not particularly blue as its wings are a dark smokey-brown.
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