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OT New road being off A27 at Lyons farm?



Chinman3000

Chinman3000

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2011
1,267
So I drove over Bostal road between the A27 near Lyons farm and Steyning for the first time in a while the other day.

It looked like a road was being built across the downs heading towards Lyons farm in the south west direction and towards the cement works in the north east.

Anyone know what this is about?
 






dazzer6666

dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
52,364
Burgess Hill
Chinman3000 said:
So I drove over Bostal road between the A27 near Lyons farm and Steyning for the first time in a while the other day.

It looked like a road was being built across the downs heading towards Lyons farm in the south west direction and towards the cement works in the north east.

Anyone know what this is about?
Click to expand...

Probably the cabling for the offshore wind farm - big scar on the landscape that goes up past the Youth Hostel on Truleigh Hill. Should be fully restored to 'Downland' once completed.
 


Jack Straw

Jack Straw

I look nothing like him!
Jul 7, 2003
6,876
Brighton. NOT KEMPTOWN!
Hopefully, they'll just leave it as chalk so that it can regenerate itself with wild flower seed that will blow in and colonize. It takes a three or so years for the chalk to green up, but ecologically, well worth the wait.
 








dazzer6666

dazzer6666

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Mar 27, 2013
52,364
Burgess Hill
Jack Straw said:
Hopefully, they'll just leave it as chalk so that it can regenerate itself with wild flower seed that will blow in and colonize. It takes a three or so years for the chalk to green up, but ecologically, well worth the wait.
Click to expand...

Someone told me that they'd taken turf from the cabling route to Kew, where they are cultivating more of it to restore all the disturbed Downland to it's prior state. Don't know if this is true but given the national park status it might be.

Edit - some reference in here about 'restoring to original'

http://www.sussexramblers.org.uk/rampion3.pdf
 


Jack Straw

Jack Straw

I look nothing like him!
Jul 7, 2003
6,876
Brighton. NOT KEMPTOWN!
dazzer6666 said:
Someone told me that they'd taken turf from the cabling route to Kew, where they are cultivating more of it to restore all the disturbed Downland to it's prior state. Don't know if this is true but given the national park status it might be.
Click to expand...

That's another way of doing it, albeit incredibly expensive. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages, but as Weststander says, as long as they don't bring in a load of quality top-soil and sacks of ordinary grass seed, that will be fine.
 






Weststander

Weststander

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Aug 25, 2011
63,903
Withdean area
Jack Straw said:
That's another way of doing it, albeit incredibly expensive. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages, but as Weststander says, as long as they don't bring in a load of quality top-soil and sacks of ordinary grass seed, that will be fine.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

Hopefully independent ecologists working for SDNP (not the elec company's own consultants) see this through to the end, to ensure that flora native to the Sussex South Downs prevails.
 






Jack Straw

Jack Straw

I look nothing like him!
Jul 7, 2003
6,876
Brighton. NOT KEMPTOWN!
It says in the link that dazzer6666 posted, that they will be using top soil and seed! All they need to do is contour the chalk/subsoil currently in situ and mow and collect the grass cuttings from the immediate area in the autumn, and spread it over the prepared area (Green-haying). The wildflower seeds present in the mowings would then grow, being exactly the ones that are present there. Total local provenance. Costs next to nothing.
 


lawros left foot

lawros left foot

Glory hunting since 1969
Jun 11, 2011
13,710
Worthing
They put in huge gas pipes between Findon and Washington, quite a few years ago, it was a huge scar on the landscape about fifty yards wide, just north of Windlesham school. Quite an outcry at the time,but, being in a less environmentally conscious time, the land was left to heal itself.

You can't tell where the work took place now, completely reverted back to how it was.
 


T

The Birdman

New member
Nov 30, 2008
6,313
Haywards Heath
lawros left foot said:
They put in huge gas pipes between Findon and Washington, quite a few years ago, it was a huge scar on the landscape about fifty yards wide, just north of Windlesham school. Quite an outcry at the time,but, being in a less environmentally conscious time, the land was left to heal itself.

You can't tell where the work took place now, completely reverted back to how it was.
Click to expand...
so there's hope for Croydon yet:whistle:
 




K

knocky1

Well-known member
Jan 20, 2010
12,963
Having taken the name for the project from the Pride of Sussex, Phyteuma orbiculare, it would be a shame if the project did not allow it to revert to natural Downland.

I was against the temporary road being cut but have enjoyed seeing it from various points looking like an old chalk trail in a Ravilious painting. Better than the permanent industrial pig farm above Botolph's.
 






Stat Brother

Stat Brother

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Jul 11, 2003
73,660
West west west Sussex


dazzer6666

dazzer6666

Well-known member
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Mar 27, 2013
52,364
Burgess Hill
knocky1 said:
Having taken the name for the project from the Pride of Sussex, Phyteuma orbiculare, it would be a shame if the project did not allow it to revert to natural Downland.

I was against the temporary road being cut but have enjoyed seeing it from various points looking like an old chalk trail in a Ravilious painting. Better than the permanent industrial pig farm above Botolph's.
Click to expand...

O/T for this thread but I've ran through that farm dozens of times on the SDW - in a nice twist the owner (must be in his 50s) did the SDW100 this year............

Agree with you on the appearance - it's looked like an extra-large SDW track for months, could have been a lot worse. Blended in OK for the most part.
 


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