“PLANNED homes are a threat to wildlife” was the headline in an article in Saturday’s Argus.

This is certainly true and also a massive overdevelopment of the Deans Close site in Woodingdean where four homes will be set to replace one.

This land is adjacent to a property that I bought in 1983 to protect an already active badgers' sett which is still occupied now, and is an official local wildlife site registered with Brighton and Hove council.

Back garden development which seems rife in Woodingdean at the moment makes a mockery of all the wildlife experts asking us to turn our gardens into wildlife habitats and to turn around the massive decline in our wildlife which is taking place now.

Also the destruction of mature trees on this site that took place last year before any planning applications had been submitted should have been illegal on a site that was full of wildlife. It was also an important foraging area for the badgers from my sett and destroying this foraging habitat with four large properties is certainly endangering their future existence.

I know the neighbouring residents are horrified at the sudden loss of a wild area that has been a haven in Woodingdean since I moved here in 1949.

I can only hope that, on Wednesday, our Green council will see sense and decide not to put more than two properties on the site. Also to plant the area with more trees and replace those destroyed, lay areas of grass (not artificial) to provide worms for birds, badgers, hedgehogs, slow worms etc, all of which inhabit this area.

Surely this is not too much to hope for when the world seems set on destroying the planet and its wildlife.

Roger Musselle

Downs Valley Road

Woodingdean