Woodpecker nest destroyed - please help!

Last year, extensive damage – including a woodpecker nest which was completely destroyed (see photos) - took place to a protected nature site (an SSSI and SAC) in the Wye Valley in Wales. Can you help prevent this damage repeating itself this year?

Last year, Powys County Council granted temporary planning consent for a traveller caravan site adjacent to the River Wye SSSI in Powys, during the period of the Royal Welsh Show (Wales’s biggest agricultural show which draws in thousands of visitors). They promised that an effective barrier (like a fence) would be built between the site and the SSSI – but this wasn’t built. What they did build was a joke – small sections of fencing with huge gaps between them - which just encouraged access. As a result, the 80+ caravans which arrived meant that a steady stream of visitors could freely access the SSSI. Just as one example, a woodpecker nest was broken open and destroyed (see photos attached) but damage was much more extensive with the visitors using the SSSI as a toilet, trashing the vegetation, and generally disturbing what is meant to be an ‘internationally important’ conservation site. In fact, it is one of Europe’s Special Areas of Conservation (or SAC.)

But this means little to Powys County Council who are just keen to see this caravan site located away from their voters in the town of Builth Wells and never mind the environment.

If you can, please email Powys County Council at:

http://planning.powys.gov.uk/portal/...let?PKID=86933 and select the Comment on Application button, before April 21st 2011. 

The official reference is P/2011/0298

It’s up to you what you say but key points might include:

• It’s not appropriate to host a caravan site of this type next door to an SSSI/SAC
• This is purely a matter of political expediency
• The SSSI cannot be effectively protected
• It's unacceptable to allow damage to protected habitats and species such as the damage to the woodpeckers’ nest 
• A properly supported campsite with facilities should be made available elsewhere in an appropriate location

I would recommend something like this: 

I would like to object to the proposed planning consent at Ysgiog field near Builth Wells (Ref P/2011/0298) on the grounds of its likely environmental impact (on the SSSI/SAC adjacent to the site.) I do not believe that this conservation site can be effectively protected from incursion and damage and the damage which will result from its continuing use as a temporary camp site is unacceptable. A properly supported campsite with adequate facilities should be made available elsewhere in an appropriate location (such as at The Royal Welsh Showground).

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO IS REALLY APPRECIATED! Thanks.