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Landowners who could not cut part of a hedge when local residents got in the way could be stopped forever, because a species of fly was found there that was not previously known to science. Council chiefs have confirmed to Bristol Live that the granting of special nature conservation status is pending for the field and hedgerow on the western side of the A38 Bridgwater Road in Bishopsworth.

Once it is confirmed, it will be a challenge to do anything that will damage the habitat there. Bristol Live reported on Monday how local farmer Catherine Withers and her supporters from across Bristol set up a makeshift blockade in front of the hedge all day, preventing a contractor hired by the land owner from cutting through part of the hedge to create a new gate. entrance to the field beyond.

Police were called to the scene Monday morning but left after deciding it was a civil dispute, and the standoff continued all day, despite the contractor and property owner’s agent displaying a Bristol City Council letter sent in February, saying they didn’t even need to apply for permission to cut the hedge and create the front door.

Read next: New species of weed fly with unusual genitalia discovered in south Bristol

But it is now known that a different department in the Town Hall has been in the process of confirming the granting of Site of Interest for Nature Conservation (SNCI) status in the field and hedgerow, after local life experts silvestre will request it earlier this year. In February, Bristol Live reported on a potentially remarkable discovery by an expert commissioned by Ms Withers, who owns nearby Yew Tree Farm, to study the insect population in the farm’s field and hedgerows last year.

He found a type of weed fly that was so unusual that it was described as a species that might be new to science, and experts across Europe were consulted to verify exactly what it was. Other rare species were found on the field, and the council is understood to have agreed to the request to convert the field and hedgerow into a SNCI.

This would mean that anyone disturbing it would have to get special permission first. There is a lengthy bureaucratic process from application to confirmation of SNCI status in any field, and Monday’s showdown occurred during this process.

The land has been farmed as part of the family-run Yew Tree Farm since the 1960s, but Farmer Withers has always rented the fields closest to the main road. The owner of the land has signed an agreement with Redrow Homes, which plans to build 200 new homes there. They submitted the first stage in a planning application, a scoping application for an Environmental Impact Assessment, but have never progressed to a full application to build new homes there.

In April 2021, there was outrage when excavators hired by Redrow Homes arrived to survey the land, but so far a vociferous fight over housing sites in south Bristol has kept builders off the field in question. City leaders have now agreed that it should be kept out of the Emerging Local Plan, so the chance of it developing is dwindling.

A Bristol City Council spokesperson confirmed to Bristol Live on Tuesday that officers were now informing the owner that the SNCI status is pending and that they will need to speak to officers before attempting to create a new gateway again.

“Officers have been made aware of the events at Yew Tree Farm this week and have made urgent inquiries with the owner’s contractor regarding the nature of this proposed work,” it said. “The Council’s resident ecologist and local planning authority officials will try to ensure that the owner is clear about the relevant planning regulations and legal responsibilities of the owner,” he added.

Yesterday, Ms Withers said the council’s official planning map had been updated to show that the whole farm, plus the field and roadside hedge, had been designated as SNCI. “We got SNCI status for the entire farm, which will protect us from developers,” she said. “I love my home and I love that wildlife thrives here. World-class food production can go hand in hand with nature’s recovery.”

Part of the dispute over the hedge revolves around access to the field next to the road. This has not been a problem for decades because it was an integral part of Yew Tree Farm and can be accessed from the other fields on the farm. But this year, Ms. Withers said that she has now been told that her lease with the land owner has ended and that she must no longer use the field.

She told Bristol Live that the owner has access rights to the field on a private lane shared with Yew Tree Farm and over his field, but the owner’s agent told Bristol Live that their job was simple and nothing more than creating an agricultural entrance to an agricultural field, because they did not have that access.

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