Truth Behind the Plan: 5. Wildlife at Risk – What We’ll Lose if Hammonds Farm Goes Ahead
Hammonds Farm may look like farmland on a map — but it’s so much more. It sits at the heart of a delicate and interconnected ecosystem, linking the Chelmer Valley to the surrounding ridgelines, hedgerows, and ancient field boundaries. The proposal to build 3,000 homes and 2 sprawling business parks doesn’t just threaten views and traffic flow. It threatens to shatter a living landscape.
A Network of Habitats
The site includes a mosaic of semi-natural features:
- Mature hedgerows and tree belts
- Arable field edges with wild margins
- Grassland strips, drainage ditches, and scrub pockets
- Veteran trees with ecological significance
These provide crucial foraging, roosting, and breeding habitats for a wide range of protected and priority species, including:
- Bats (multiple species recorded locally)
- Barn owls
- Badgers
- Great crested newts
- Roe deer, hares, and foxes
Local conservation groups and ecological surveys have documented the presence of these species, particularly around the site’s wooded edges and field margins. The landscape acts as a wildlife corridor, allowing species to move between the Chelmer Valley and woodlands near Danbury and Little Baddow.
Proximity to Protected Areas
Hammonds Farm lies near several designated conservation areas:
- Local Wildlife Sites (LoWS)
- Ancient woodlands
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)
Development here risks:
- Fragmenting existing habitats
- Disrupting wildlife corridors
- Creating barriers to species movement
It’s not just about what’s within the red line boundary. It’s about the cumulative ecological harm across the wider landscape — especially in an area long-identified as part of Essex’s ecological recovery network.
The 20% Biodiversity Net Gain Illusion
Chelmsford City Council and the developer claim the Hammonds Farm proposal will deliver a 20% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) — a target introduced under national policy to ensure development leaves the natural environment in a better state than before.
But in reality, this figure is often illusory.
- BNG calculations are typically based on optimistic desk-based modelling, not ecological reality.
- They rely on habitat creation schemes that may take 30 years or more to reach maturity — if they ever do.
- They cannot replicate the functional complexity of existing ancient habitats.
Crucially, biodiversity credits allow developers to buy their way out of delivering BNG onsite. If biodiversity is lost at Hammonds Farm, the supposed “gains” could be delivered anywhere in the country — potentially hundreds of miles away — doing nothing to help the species, habitats, or ecosystems that will be destroyed here.
Consider this:
- A 300-year-old hedgerow, teeming with life and ecological memory, cannot be replaced by a line of saplings on a spreadsheet.
- A rare bat roost, evolved over generations in the Chelmer Valley, cannot be swapped for a generic wildflower meadow in another county.
Hammonds Farm is not a vacant brownfield site — it is a living, breathing landscape of hedgerows, woodlands, watercourses, and wildlife corridors. It would be replaced not just by homes, but by a spine road, employment zone, school, and community centre — a scale of urbanisation that fundamentally destroys local biodiversity.
There is no credible ecological evidence that a site of this magnitude and intensity could deliver any net gain, let alone meet the arbitrary 20% target.
In short: the numbers may add up on paper, but nature does not work that way.
Light, Noise, and Human Disturbance
Even if some green space remains, development brings disruption:
- Artificial lighting affects bats, moths, and other nocturnal species
- Noise and vehicle movement deter ground-nesting birds
- Increased human and pet activity leads to habitat degradation, littering, and wildlife stress
In short, it’s not just habitat loss — it’s habitat degradation and fragmentation, which weakens long-term ecosystem health.
Undermining Nature Recovery Networks
Essex County Council has committed to a Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) as part of its environmental vision. The strategy identifies:
- The need for joined-up green corridors
- Enhancement of ecological connectivity
- Restoration of farmland hedgerows and riparian habitats
Hammonds Farm sits at the centre of this strategic landscape, connecting the Chelmer floodplain to upland woods and commons. Placing a housing estate here would be a direct contradiction of the LNRS, severing one of the last viable east–west ecological corridors around Chelmsford.
Conclusion: Nature Cannot Be an Afterthought
Once gone, habitats take decades — sometimes centuries — to recover. And in many cases, the wildlife displaced by urban sprawl never returns.
Hammonds Farm is not an empty field. It is a living, breathing landscape — rich in wildlife, criss-crossed by biodiversity corridors, and rooted in our shared natural heritage. The Local Plan ignores this complexity, treating green space as blank canvas.
This site must be removed from the Local Plan if Chelmsford is serious about nature recovery, biodiversity, and environmental leadership.
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