Petition to save Radstock Railway land a site of great biodiversity value.
The Radstock Railway Land site is a unique site of about 7.6 hectares that comprises former railway land, wagon works and an un-worked field. It contains the bulk of Radstock's remaining railway heritage features and an extraordinary biodiversity not usually found on such a small site. English Nature and its successor Natural England have recognised it as of borderline SSSI quality with the potential for SSSI designation given appropriate management
Amongst the many rare species of insect is one that was found for the first time in the UK on this site in 2005 and is still not found anywhere else in the UK, six years later. The site is considered by experts to be nationally important for its insect communities, and arguably even qualifies as a 'European important site' if the IEEM guidelines for invertebrates are applied.
A planning application to build 210 houses on the site has been submitted by NRR a company set up by BANES the council with which the application is lodged and who are part owners of the site