A Bristol city farmer says she has been ‘left in tears’ after workers tore up a section of ancient hedgerow.
Catherine Withers, 53, watched as developers removed the 200-year-old hedgerow with chainsaws.
The hedgerow, replaced by a 12-foot gate, is said to help developers access fields to build a new housing development.
Yet the hedgerow itself has been classified as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) and home to a wide variety of birds, butterflies, and insects.
Catherine’s family has worked Yew Tree Farm in Chew Magna, just south of Bristol, for almost 60 years.
Catherine Withers, 53, said those who want to ‘destroy anything green and natural are winning’
Catherine used to graze her cattle in the field before the landowners terminated the agreement.
The decision, Mrs Withers claims, could lead to the farm becoming financially unviable for her family.
In tears at the incident she said: ‘It makes me weep that it’s such an important site but it can’t be protected.
‘Now we’ve got an industrial gateway across a green space that is teeming with life – including a new species known to science.
‘I’m completely broken – the little guy always loses.
‘The people that want to destroy anything green and natural are winning and people that want to protect the natural world are losing.’
Bristol City Council were found to have made apparent ‘errors’ to grant the landowner, Longmoor Land Limited (LLL), permission to build the 12-foot gate.
The local authority has since admitted that it made a mistake but due to the time passed cannot go back on the decision.
The gate has since been installed to give new access to fields that developers hope to build houses on.
Workers filmed cutting down a section of hedgerow said to ‘teeming’ with wildlife including an insect unknown to science
Mrs Withers said: ‘I’m absolutely gobsmacked that’s where we are with Bristol City Council’s planning department.
‘It’s not just about the gap in the bush, because I suppose a hedgerow could survive a four-meter gap.
‘This hedgerow is ancient and protected because it has so much biodiversity.
‘There are hundreds of butterflies as well as birds nesting and bats, all known to use the hedgerow.’
A city council planning enforcement team member admitted that errors had been made by the council during the application process, Bristol Live reported.
In a letter, the council said it ‘transpires that we did not properly realise what the application was and treated it like a request for info on proposed works to trees’.
The email said: ‘This is the first application of this type for many years, and we accept that our Administration and Business Support Team made a mistake – we have put in place a process to ensure that such an error is not repeated.’
A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said: ‘Officers are investigating whether works undertaken by the landowner are in accordance with the planning permission in place and conform to the ecological method statement agreed with the consultant ecologists.
‘No evidence has been submitted at present to suggest any breach of planning permission.
‘Officers will continue to monitor the works to ensure they remain in line with the agreed plans in place.’
The privately owned land, in Bedminster Down, has been the site of a long-running battle between LLL and Mrs Withers.
Attempts to build 200 new homes on the land have been halted with the council’s latest Local Plan a 15-year housing blueprint protecting it from future development.
LLL said they had acted ‘in exact accordance’ with planning permission.
A spokesperson said they had ‘created a new 12-foot access in the hedgerow from the lane to their own land solely for agricultural purposes’.
They told the BBC: ‘The previous access to the field had been via land owned by Mrs Withers of Yew Tree Farm (who had grazed the Longmoor Land fields under a grazing licence).
‘However, since that grazing licence was terminated last year, a new access is now required, and this has been put in place today.
‘Longmoor Land is at the same time planting 250 foot of new hedgerow in the same field, replacing the amount of hedgerow removed around 20 times over.’
John Tarlton, of Bristol Tree Forum, said: ‘Nature is going to be destroyed and that is exactly what we don’t want.’