Chalk dumped in a parking lot can be used to create a barrier after city councils unanimously support a motion to move it to a better location.
Brighton Footgolf, based on the Benfield Valley Golf Course, was granted planning permission to build dams along the parking lot boundaries after tons of chalk were dumped there by a rogue builder.
Brighton and Hove City Council issued a writ of execution to owner Benfield Investments in March after the chalk had been there for at least three months and damaged part of the vegetation.
The informal parking lot, which has no marked parking spaces, is adjacent to the Benfield Valley Site of Nature Conservation Importance, and some of the chalk had invaded this area.
At a council planning committee meeting on Wednesday (Aug. 4), Conservative Alderman Dawn Barnett rejected plans to renovate the parking lot and create embankments to be sown with wildflowers in the downland.
Councilor Barnett, who represents the Hangleton and Knoll Township, said the situation was “business gone wrong”.
She said the rogue builder had permission to use the site temporarily to bag the chalk, but disappeared after being dumped.
Councilor Barnett said: “When the council told them to clean up the area, they drove in a dump truck and shoveled out a lot of vegetation where hedgehogs, dormice and slow worm lived. It completely destroyed their surroundings.
“They were supposed to keep the trees and shrubs and hedges in order … but they didn’t. They tore up the hedges and bushes where the birds nest. “
She said the situation in the community was causing great hardship.
Martin Carpenter of Enplan, the agent for Benfield Investments, said only part of the property was within the local wildlife area.
County ecologist Kate Cole said the dumped chalk penetrated trees and caused damage – and Benfield Investments had agreed to replace three. Some of the scrub may have been damaged, but the area was expected to be repopulated.
She was asked about the environmental damage by Labor Councilor Daniel Yates and told him, “The geology in the area is made of chalk for the area.
“The bunds will also be good habitats for reptiles because they have beautiful sunny banks for reptiles to bask on. Obviously you don’t want them to be huge. “
An aerial view of the site
Councilor Yates said he was initially skeptical of the motion, which made an inconvenient event convenient.
He said, “If we can get an environmental benefit from this, and we can also make some improvements to the nature of the parking lot and some visual improvements to the relationship between parking lot and walkway, then I don’t have a specific development objection.
“My concern is about a potential precedent being set for people who dump rubbish chalk across the country and then say they expect to get federal building permits.”
Permission was given.
