Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve under threat from proposed adjacent residential developments.

Titchfield Haven nestles in the mouth/estuary of the river Meon in Hampshire, with the surrounding land forming a natural buffer for the wildlife especially from the current residential areas of Stubbington & Hill Head. However builders have their eyes on this land, which is part of the "Meon Strategic Gap" and are proposing a development of 160 new homes on 2 fields immediately adjacent to Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve. One of these fields until recently was set for agriculture and around 500 overwintering geese (Brent and Canada) could regularly be seen grazing the fields. However the last couple of years the field has resorted to long grass and ragwort and the large numbers of Geese have gone (very convenient for the wildlife surveys). The fields are also a rich resource of food for many other birds especially birds of prey including the Marsh Harrier (which bred for the first time for around 45 years this summer at the Haven) which can be seen gathering nesting materials and hunting. Even more of a concern is if these fields are lost to developers then all the land on the whole eastern side of the reserve becomes vulnerable to large scale development, resulting in noise, light pollution, run-off pollution, domestic animal predation etc within the reserve. THIS WILL BE PERMANENT AND IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE TO THE RESERVE. For full details on the application please visit Fareham Borough Council website and search for planning application "P/17/1451/OA" or "Land West of Old Street" or follow this link to the application: http://www.fareham.gov.uk/casetrackerplanning/ApplicationDetails.aspx?reference=P/17/1451/OA&uprn=10012132214 Thank you for your time and help Richard