Do not erect a stock fence along the tree line of the north side of the reserve and thereby enclosing it and uphold the agreement made to Councillor Mary Mears and the residents of Rottingdean and surrounding areas in a meeting of February 2010 that the reserve would not be enclosed and grazing would be for 3 months of the year only to be done in December, February and March.
Why is this important?
The agreement of 2010 will be broken should the new Ranger at BHCC go ahead with his plans to erect a stock fence on the northern side of the reserve.
If his plans go ahead then there is nothing to stop future Rangers grazing the reserve without the use of electric fences in sections and in doing so denying residents somewhere to walk their dogs livestock free.
Over the years the grazing of the sheep has already, and without involving local residents, gone from 3 months of the year to 6 months if not more of the year. The resulting large amount of sheep faeces has made large areas of the reserve paths not nice to walk on for a long period of time. The extended grazing time has been identified by The Friends of Beacon Hills own expert in the annual report as detrimental.
