Hollins Cross Farm Pond - 50 years old
Behind the houses on Glen View Road Burnley BB11 2QW in the field of the proposed Hollins Cross Farm site is a naturally formed Pond.
We asked the Council if they were aware of the
Million Ponds Project
to maintain and grow the extensive network of new ponds across the UK.
As yet no word from the Council, as far as they know there is no mention of a pond at the Hollins Cross Farm Site.
This site shows the importance of encouraging and maintaining ponds for the biodiversity of the Countryside.
Mallards and Cattle using the Hollins Cross Pond
We also asked Burnley Council if they had done surveys to ascertain the impact on any of the wildlife surrounding or in this pond, frogs, newts, water voles, birds or bats?
We also had to force these questions by applying under the Freedom of Information Act - the Council reply was they were relying on information
obtained in 2007.
These 2 Government websites give details information about protected species and how local planning authorites should go about researching environments, it is obvious that Burnley Council has failed to investigate thoroughly the Hollins Cross Farm Site.
This pond is of significance ecological importance and has become home to a large number of amphibians and is the Breeding, Resting and Roosting site for Ducks and Moor Hens
Every evening there is a migration of Ducks and Geese that fly between Towneley Hall Lake and the pond to Breed and Roost at the pond. Draining this pond would again be a destruction of natural habitats, and a destruction to their nesting site. Mallards and their nests are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
The Pond at Hollins Cross Farm is very important in the prevention of flooding in Burnley as it traps a large amount of water and allows restricted drainage.
Here is a Mallard Duck and Drake in the Garden of 89 Glen View Road, these birds are frequent visitors to gardens along the periphery of the pond in the Hollins Cross Farm site.
There are years where the Mallards nest in the bushes of the gardens of 89 Glen View road.
Burnley Council claim that the team who were employed to create the "Proposed Options Plan 2016" have done sufficient research in to wildlife that inhabit the Hollins Cross Farm site.
On the Burnley Council Website all the Protected Species Surveys are from 2013 and a Habitat Survey was last done nearly 10 years ago in 2007.
So it is obvious that the Team tasked with surveying Hollins Cross Farm did not visit the site but just Glossed Over some old Surveys.
Ecological Studies | Burnley Borough Council
Prepared by: Lancashire Environment Record Network
This aerial photography in this document on page 28 clearly shows the Pond at Hollins Cross Farm