Central Bedfordshire Council listened to concerns raised by our Wider Countryside team in Beds that the proposal for land next to Foster Avenue in Houghton Regis would result in the loss of the nearby Dog Kennel Down County Wildlife Site.

County Wildlife Sites are small pockets of grassland, woodland or other habitats that are vital to ensure species have safe havens in our towns and countryside and are able to move around the landscape.

Laura Taylor, Wildlife Trust conservation manager for Bedfordshire, said: “Jobs, homes and transport links are vital for communities, and so is wildlife and green space. We can have both if we take care to plan new developments with nature in mind – this plan was an example of how not to do it.

“Our Wider Countryside staff work hard to monitor and help protect County Wildlife Sites which are often owned by councils, businesses or private individuals. Our nature reserves are just one part of bringing threatened wildlife back – we need these hundreds of smaller wild spaces to connect habitats and provide feeding stops, nesting sites and shelter for all kinds of species.”

Dog Kennel Down is designated as a County Wildlife Site because of its chalk grassland habitat which is vital for a range of species. It is listed as an area ‘extremely important for a range of wildlife and is particularly notable for its plants and plant communities, birds and a wide variety of invertebrates, especially lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), grasshoppers and crickets, bees, wasps and flies’.