355 acres of productive farmland at Nunwell near Brading will be ‘rewilded’ and largely lost to food production.
The land has been bought for the Hampshire and Isle Wight Wildlife Trust to return it to nature. This follows the purchase by the trust of Little Droxmore farm near Wootton in 2020, also for ‘rewilding’.
The Wildlife Trust has been donated the land with the assistance of mainland councils in Portsmouth and Fareham, to allow extensive housing development to proceed on the other side of the Solent. By taking the land out of intensive agricultural production on the Isle of Wight, the councils can mitigate the negative environmental impact of such development on their side of the Solent.
The Wildlife Trust have issued the following statement on the purchase of part of the Nunwell Estate:
“Rewilding allows the natural restoration of vital habitats, which on the Isle of Wight will benefit an expanding nature recovery network – creating the rich, connected landscapes that wildlife needs to survive and thrive. Rewilding also benefits people and wildlife by helping to reverse species declines, tackle the climate crisis and mitigate pollution.
“While the Trust’s main aim for the land it has acquired at Nunwell is for rewilding, we will have a small number of livestock on site as part of a conservation grazing strategy in which the animals enhance the ecosystem by living naturally on the land. The Trust has acquired 355 acres of land at Nunwell, which approximately represents just under half the entire area of the estate. The remaining half of Nunwell includes woodland and land that will continue to be farmed.”
However, Ryde Mayor Michael Lilley has raised concern over the loss of food production on the Isle of Wight caused by the rewilding of productive farmland. Cllr Lilley says:
“Rewilding is great and preserves green spaces, but we are losing lots of farmland that produces food locally. We are mitigating against development in Portsmouth and Gosport, but where does this leave us? The lack of available farming land on the Island is an issue.
Article continues below this advertisement “Nunwell was a productive farm. Another dairy farm has closed, leaving only 9. Briddlesford Farm alone is not big enough to meet all the needs of Islanders.
“We need to have fewer food miles for what we eat. We should be able to buy locally produced milk, eggs, and potatoes. When I go to a fruit and veg shop in Ryde, very little is grown on the Island. Producing food here creates employment and makes us healthier. Relying on food from the mainland makes it more expensive.”
Absolute madness.
Let’s import our food increasing ‘food miles’ !
Given time & brown envelopes will be housing estate!
Yes. Dont let councillor Brodie in on this, dont think he likes nature.
You could not make this up, lilley whining on about loss of productive farm land when he and his idiots have destroyed Westridge farm as well as the hundreds of acres now covered with solar panels, concreting over these areas will worsen the danger of flooding yet on they go until the Island is just one big cesspool of a housing estate.
Which of “his idiots” are you referring to?
All of the idjeets who voted for the development while sat on their Brown envelopes, its not needed, not wanted for houses, but it is if we want to eat!
Are you referring to the conservative cllrs?
I would imagine the lot of them!
All of them
I would like to know which ones hes referring to as well. Cllr Lilley was against Westridge development and others in his group. Its the other group that voted it through. Those commenting should watch the planning meetings
If you’d bothered to follow the sorry affair of Westridge Farms destruction, you would remember Cllr Lilley was barred from the original planning commitee meeting held last 26 July 2022. He was gagged from giving his opinion via video link. His written statement was not read out in full. Why? because he was against the development. He did not vote at last weeks meeting because he chaired it. No he has not destroyed Westridge Farm. Point the finger else where.
How did Cllr Lilley destroy Westridge Farm when he tried to vote against it, but was barred from doing so??
What a nasty post about Mayor Lilley and over 6,000 legitimate protesters against losing Westridge Farm, a beloved family home and animals, nestled in in one of the last beautiful areas of Ryde, which is threatened to be potentially destroyed for ever. It is unimaginable what the Family have gone through these past 6 years, in order to keep their livelihood. Still, we have time to keep keeping on legitimately to “Save Westridge Farm”. Will you help us, Mr Reg Dennis?
Sadly too late as the brown envelope councillors have voted to give full planning permission to this island destroying development.
I fully support Westridge Farm but sadly because of our council it has been lost as have many hundreds of productive farmland on the Island to meet , so called, housing needs when a vast proportion of said houses are for mainland retirees and second homes.
Perhaps if our council demanded any development be restricted to existing brownfield sites and forcing unoccupied housing back into use we would all benefit.
As we see, small farms are being by deliberate red tape rules being squeezed out of farming.
Like small independant shops are.
Sadly Goverenments want large businesses only to run the majority of farms, shops etc.
I cannot beleive that Fanny Oglander approves of this, for the Oglanders came over with Will the conq, and to see the estate die as a working farm is disgusting at a time when more people more food is needed.
There truly are dark deeds going on, and the people only care who is on ‘Love Island’ or in ‘Big Bruv’
Very worrying.
Great idea .then we can be even more dependent on other countries for our food and have it shipped to us from the other side of the world .but at least a sparrow will have a twig to sit on .
Yes absolutely mad, 1 acre is around 3tons of wheat, enough for 1700 loaves bread,100acres is 1/2million loaves. Less road miles and helps UK not have to rely on Russian wheat – this is not rocket science. Imagine a 1000acres or a million,we need farm land urgently and none should be taken for housing or other. We need to be able to provide for ourselves and not import.
Stop importing PEOPLE then !
Not rocket.
The first thing to do is Save Westridge Farm – a working farm! Scandalous.
Well done to Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust for buying the 355 acres to save and preserve it.
There are many, many fields on the island that could be used to grow food but you need farmers to be able to do it. Perhaps now, this will start to happen but it needs to be viable for farmers to do it. The Government needs to support landowners and farmers to kick start this quickly.
Worth visiting “Save Westridge Farm Campaign” they’re still crowd funding……
councillors are full of it
approve housing – losing farmland
rewilding – losing farmland
subsequent increase in the population, with less ability to grow food, because of housing and rewilding policies – are these people in county hall actually awake?
‘Woke’ maybe,certainly not ‘awake’.
They are rich, will NOT be living with the masses, but in some quite leafy lane, and do not care about dentists, NHS waiting times nor worry over their childs education as they go private for all.
Their pension will ensure that you will be paying not only for them to have a great life now, but into their retirement, whereas we suffer now, and even more so when we need help.
So WHO is the idiots, them, or us who allows such by funding these destructive parasites?
Have you actually watched the planning committee meetings?
I once went to a planning meeting and will never, repeat never, go to one again. Total farce and utterly disgusting. Yes, of course the ‘matter under consideration’ was passed, what else would you expect?
Thanks to the idleness of the previous lot in failing to come up with an Island Plan, the current IW Council have no option but to submit to government rules and grant a presumption of approval.
No they do not – they can simply say – no, to some pen pusher, nearly a hundred miles away in london, who doesn’t live here – it isn’t difficult – pick up the phone and say no, we are not building any houses here – you got the hint – good.
This “lot”!promised to be more transparent?really when has that happened?more transparent about planning about the farce of The Chain ferry funding ,still waiting for any transparency about anything on those promises,but then the lure of the Brown envelopes must be very appealing…..easy enough to tell planning no! Look at what Islanders have said and wanted keep Westridge as a working farm it’s needed now more than ever,show us the paperwork on The Chain ferry who signed off on this mammoth disaster because it is!no amount of will in the world will make that go away!you promised now deliver,!as for Lilley he tried to a degree,but knew which way the wind was blowing,a “hurricane of Brown envelopes all down the corrupt line,this planning is not needed,not wanted but food is and always will be!
Perfect for another 400+ housing ghetto!
Most of the food grown on the island goes to the mainland. The idea that growing more here would benefit the islands food markets is laughable. I would be fore this if the produced food was solely used to bring down food costs across the island, but it will not. The purpose of this statement is to build support for his political aspirations. He does not give two hoots about the wealth and prosperity of the island, just his own.
The Isle of Wight is the biggest English island and, currently, the biggest single parliamentary constituency but seems to be open to abuse by mainland organisations.
The Scottish Roy Dennis Foundation decided to release white tailed eagles here.
Exeter University has told the Hants and IW Wildlife Trust to introduce a hitherto non native species, beavers, here and now mainland councils dictate land use here for their own purposes.
Rewilding versus food production, especially with the current global loss of Syrian wheat and Ukrainian sunflower oil, is an important debate but, if it’s here, surely islanders should be involved.
At least it’s not being turned into a housing development…. Think it’s pretty difficult to replough fields to grow crop if we need too when they’re covered in houses.
They were happy enough to kick a family out of their working farm to build houses, but giving it back to nature? Awful thought. Probably due to pockets not beinf lined unlike planning applications for 100’s of houses.
I’m always very happy for any organisation or charity doing their best to protect our wildlife here. After all, it was here before us!
Far better to import lower quality food and add tons of CO2 to the atmosphere then they can imprison us because we are producing too much CO2. If we carry on like this, if the scientists are correct, the climate change will drown all the new wildlife in this rewilded area due to rise in sea levels and all the extra rain.
This eco lunacy has gone far enough – we can’t feed ourselves, we can’t supply our own energy and are now facing a deliberately created future of energy and food rationing thanks to the policies of Westminster and Whitehall
My grandchildren will grow up in a sterile concrete jungle. A small area of natural countryside is all they will see. Rewinding this area is the correct way forward. If no of you want to grow crops on this small area, good luck you wouldn’t survive a year.
Thank you Wildlife Trusts for securing this greenfield land for future generations.
Ignore the councillor stood in front of a supermarket who is part of a committee doing the very opposite.
Loss of food production is due to the council building unwanted housing projects
Are these people in the council and so on really that THICK
I agree, we should use the land for growing food – but – who is going to farm it?
Plus, consider this as well, farmers are being paid by the government to stop farming their land and to ‘re-wild’ it. They are even paying for adverts on local radio stations, paid with taxpayers money, to push the idea.
You get to a stage when you think there’s no common sense left in the world.
I fully support growing own vegetables, especially on Island due to the eco climate we experience. We could support ourselves totally instead of imports that deck the aisles of supermarkets today but we must not be too greedy in profit margins. Nature and production in some areas can work together, and home grown produce is one area that it would work.
How about the thousands of acres of farm land taken out of food production to supply the a d plant to produce gas and electricity, in order that the over weight unemployed can sit and watch daytime t v , with dangerous tractors driving at high speed on country roads, and the fertiliser and waste pouring in to local water ways the monkton mead to name one! Clearly this councillor is unaware of what is really going on !
Where’s my comments?
The amount of previously arable farmland on the Island that is being unused is quite appalling. One can only assume that farming isn’t profitable enough !!!!
It is the ever-growing housing building that is robbing us of farming land. End of !!
This is a good thing for the island.
But why not go all the way and make The IW a national park. Same as the New forest and South downs.
Win, win for everybody (except local politicians) as there would be no more brown envelopes.
Whoever had this in there next manifesto would win the next local elections by a landslide.
So, let’s all stop moaning, and put an end to all of these shananigens. Let’s make this island great again.
Vote ting, vote ting tong.
I agree. We should be growing as much produce as we can here in the UK.
Have a trip on the top deck of a bus around the Island and what do you see – loads of fields of grass – food for a few cows and sheep Where are all the fields of food for people we are supposed to be growing and why isn’t it happening now. There are some greenhouses and poly tunnels for tomatoes, and a few fields of cauliflowers, etc., we do not seem to be the most productive of places. We need Rewilding for life to continue sustainably in the future and rather this than a monoculture grass field.
Then just maybe the brown envelopes that permitted Westridge farm to be built on should have used this logic . No, money and greed is far easier but extremely short sighted