Saltdean neighbours bid to buy land to protect badgers and foxes

Residents near Mount Drive in Saltdean have raised £30,000 towards the triangular patch of land which is up for auction next month.

Now they need to raise a further £10,000 to meet the £45,000 asking price with plans to buy goats to protect the land.

Debbie Julians, one of the fundraisers behind the project, said: “We are trying to keep the badgers and the wildlife safe.

“We want to get some goats to go with the badgers. They would eat back the brambles because at the moment it’s infested.

Debbie Julians, who is helping to spearhead the campaign (Image: Andrew Gardner | The Argus)

“We’re really passionate about this. It would be just wrong to lose the badgers like this.”

In a project that began before the Covid-19 lockdown, the group looked to buy the land after finding badgers, foxes, slow worms and other wildlife in the area.

The land currently has a covenant protecting the area since 1938, while the patch of land dates back as far as 1898.

Some neighbours involved in the project say they remember playing on the land when they were younger and recall a treehouse in a protected tree.

Debbie and her husband Peter said they were forced to cut away brambles around the back of their house after it began to “avalanche” over their fence.

The patch of land has attracted rats, something the neighbourhood group is keen to deter.

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The neighbours have now banded together to create a CIC, community interest company, with a view to buying the land.

The triangular splot backing on to Mount Drive, Saltdean Vale and Heathfield Avenue is set to go up for auction on August 30, with a minimum bid of £45,000.

Graham Amy, from South Downs Badger Group, said: "It would be sad if the next generation don't have wildlife.

Badgers in the field (Image: Debbie Julians)

"I think the wildlife that is already there should take precedence in any sale."

The group is now looking for new ways to fundraise the final thousands to buy the land, including setting up a GoFundMe crowdfunding page.

Hatley Estates, the current owner of the site, said it bought the plot as part of a wider acquisition and is now looking to sell.

Two young foxes living in the field (Image: Debbie Julians)

A spokesman said: “Hatley Estates are fully aware that there are community groups interested in the site. We have – and will continue to – give them every opportunity to acquire the site.

“We have been disposing of sites that we don’t wish to hold. These include the subject site. Hatley Estates are a commercial organisation with an obligation to secure best value for its shareholders. Sale by auction is, we believe, the most transparent and fair way to ensure that anyone interested in the sites we sell has the opportunity to bid for them. It is how we bought them in the first place.”