Wild in the city

WE didn't see any newts on our tour of undeveloped Obsaldwick, great crested or otherwise. Forget the trick photograph in yesterday's Evening Press: these scaly fellas are not given to scrambling into the limelight.

Neither did we stumble across another supposed resident, the water vole. The grass is waist-high in some places, providing perfect cover for any wildlife keen to flee from a clod-hopping journalist and his companions. There could be sabre-tooth tigers lurking in there for all I know.

But plenty of flora and fauna was on public display, accompanied by a heart-lifting soundtrack of birdsong.

We were strolling around the open site which cushions Tang Hall from Osbaldwick. On my York City Atlas it is depicted as a square and a half of white nothingness.

If City of York Council and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation get their way, future maps will show a large development here. No fewer than 540 homes are on the drawing board, forming the uninspiringly-named Derwenthorpe, the foundation's new New Earswick.

It will be an innovative community, sustainable, attractive, retaining open space and offering many low-cost homes. A worthy successor to Joseph Rowntree's original model village, the foundation boasts.

Ah, but there is already a sustainable community living here, counter the opponents of Derwenthorpe. And they will be uprooted by the development. At risk, an entire ecosystem of bugs, birds, mammals and, yes, amphibians.

The timely discovery of two great crested newts, as revealed in the paper yesterday, could do for Derwenthorpe. There is a whole filing cabinet of legislation to look after this protected species and its habitat. Delays now look inevitable.

This has cheered the anti-development campaigners no end. It confirms what they have being arguing all along, they say: that this site is a priceless nature reserve which would be wrecked by such a large housing estate, immaterial of its pioneering social ambitions.

My guides were Bill Hall and Malcolm "Newt Spotter" Kettlestring, chairman and vice-chairman of Osbaldwick Parish Council respectively; and resident Mark Warters. They wanted to show me round now the spring is here. Their point: that these 53 acres are not scrubland fit only for building, but valuable green marsh and meadow teeming with life.

We began on Metcalfe Lane, a public right of way lined on either side by green. On the plans it forms a crucial boundary: to the west, the housing; to the east, retained open space.

Further on you see the least attractive aspect of the site. A large pylon towers over a derelict electricity sub-station.

In front are unkempt fields where the long grasses, punctuated by buttercups, crawl and buzz with insect life and more besides.

"This is marsh field," says Coun Kettlestring. "It's always got water in it. There's supposed to be a spring somewhere; we're doing some checking to find it.

"We were in there last week. It's absolutely full of wildlife: tadpoles and frogs.

"They said there were no newts. We were in there five minutes and we found them."

On our travels we pass 15ft-high hawthorn hedges laden down with blossom. Much of the hedgerow would be lost or chopped down to make way for Derwenthorpe, my guides said. And that will upset the bird population.

Mr Warters says he once came face to beak with a tawny owl, and has seen bats in the fields at dusk.

Coun Hall says: "It's teeming with wildlife in abundance. You name the variety of bird, we've got it here.

"There's rabbits, there's foxes - people have even seen deer."

The council ought to be protecting such a valuable site, Mr Warters argues. "This area is as important to York's ecology as the Minster is to York's architecture," he says.

"The council should be looking to make a mark on history rather than a stain on the future."

It is not only the nearest residents who are unhappy at the ecological consequences of Derwenthorpe. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said that "this site should be conserved for the enjoyment and quality of life for future generations".

English Nature noted that two of the grassland fields threatened meet the criteria to qualify as sites of importance of nature conservation.

The most outspoken ecological viewpoint comes from the York Natural Environment Trust. Its vice chairman, Barry Potter, says that ancient meadowland is becoming increasingly important: 96 per cent has been destroyed since the last war.

"This is lowland Yorkshire's most threatened habitat," he says. "Here City of York Council own a substantial chunk of it and it wants to destroy it."

Among the wild animals which live here are "invertebrates, amphibians, small mammals which are not always very obvious. They tend to make their homes underneath the canopy of the grass."

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation conducted its own environmental assessment nine months ago which failed to find newts or voles. To Mr Potter's mind, this "brings into question the whole validity of the evidence produced by the developers".

He went on to accuse the council of "planned neglect" by leaving the fields to grow unchecked since the Derwenthorpe plans were first mooted. Normally the grass was cropped annually, either for hay or by grazing animals. That important maintenance has stopped.

The fields can be a magical place boasting ancient ridge and furrow farm workings, says Mr Potter And because it is so close to York, it is accessible to a lot of people.

"My whole view is that the value of this area has been deliberately played down in order that nothing should get in the way of this development."

Derwenthorpe "would be a disaster for the ecology of the city and it would be a disaster nationally." As the Joseph Rowntree Foundation considers the new village as a model for future development, it could set a precedent for building on valuable natural habitats.

Nigel Ingram, director of development at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, robustly defended its conduct. The foundation had commissioned an independent environment impact study from a respected local wildlife expert, he pointed out.

Outside agencies such as English Nature had not questioned the report's accuracy or called for further investigations. While the city council had asked for extra studies of the traffic impact and flooding implications of Derwenthorpe, it had not asked for more work on the natural environment.

Mr Ingram does not believe building Derwenthorpe would set a precedent for developments elsewhere. It was the city council which designated the area as suitable for housing.

"Local authorities have the responsibility for assessing how they are going to plan their communities.

"We want to work with local authorities who want to do that in a sustainable way, whether that's on brownfield sites, greenfield or even on water.

"We have the experience in assessing each site on its merits."

Now a rare newt had been discovered on the Osbaldwick site, the foundation would do all they could to protect it.

"We have absolutely no intention of destroying or wanting to destroy the great crested newt's habitat.

"We need to establish whether there's a community there or whether they have migrated onto the site.

"The foundation does not want to ride roughshod over wildlife."

Updated: 09:38 Thursday, May 27, 2004