TREE felling and other works are now under way at Stanmer Park by contractors for Brighton and Hove City Council’s parks department.

A mature sycamore, unmissable when entering the park from the Falmer end, is now unmissable as a stump until it is removed and the root poisoned perhaps.

Other trees were also felled as part of what is characterised as a landscape restoration project.

Ostensibly to remedy years of decline, the Heritage Lottery aided project is intended to increase visitor numbers and the quality of their experience in the park.

Some new planting may happen in the future but in a time of accelerating ecological collapse, how can we excuse the loss of any established tree habitat for tidier car parking or marginal improvements to vehicle access?

I wonder if many existing park users or the wider public have any knowledge of these or other plans for Stanmer? How might the public interpret the plan to drive a new car park access road through a tree-lined bank opposite Stanmer Church for instance.

Could it be considered as a valid part of a restoration plan, particularly when another access route already exists?

No one can doubt the scale of the difficulty faced by a cash-strapped council in maintaining heritage and amenity assets for the public into the future.

However, in recent years we have seen the preservation of publicly owned listed buildings at Stanmer addressed by long-term leasing to private developers.

Does the public understand the consequences of that for their park?

Subsequent planning permissions and inadequately monitored works resulted in private, gated, housing developments behind Stanmer House and at the adjacent stable block.

Some of these properties now appear to be sold freehold.

Trees and dependent wildlife also disappeared with those developments.

Enforcement action by South Downs National Park for some of the planning breaches is ongoing. Too little, too late?

Stanmer House and listed garden await another new private business use of questionable sustainability or public benefit after commercially inscrutable sub-leasing. Hotel and leisure planning permissions are the most recent to have been approved before sale.

Sure, these once decaying publicly owned buildings remain, but their potential for public use to support the sustainable future of the whole estate at Stanmer has all but disappeared along with much else.

Can the estate ever be truly managed to prioritise its historic landscape and deep social history; its rare ecology and community potential?

Should we continue to watch it go, or look to examples of best practice and creative community action and demand a better way?

Bill Fairhall

Bevendean Avenue

Saltdean