SITE DESCRIPTION/SURROUNDING AREA 2

CONTENTS

Introduction ...... 2-1 Site Description ...... 2-1 Topography ...... 2-2 Surrounding Area ...... 2-2 Natural Characteristics ...... 2-3

SITE DESCRIPTION/SURROUNDING AREA 2

INTRODUCTION

Site Description

2.1 This section of the ES introduces the application site and the surrounding area.

2.2 The site is located in the small hamlet of Filching, East Sussex, approximately 3.5km northwest of . The approximate centre of the site lies at National Grid Reference 556400, 102900. The site occupies a broadly rectangular piece of land of approximately 1.9 hectares.

2.3 The application site currently comprises a disused derelict chalk quarry with exposed worked chalk faces and base.

2.4 A mature vegetation belt runs along the eastern boundary of the quarry, adjoining the ‘Ashleigh’ property. Intermittent shrubs and small trees occur around the remaining crest of the quarry.

2.5 The site is located within a wider landscape of predominantly rolling hills and pastoral farmland, with a substantial local hedgerow network within the National Park.

2.6 There are a number of properties within relatively close proximity to the site, the closest of which are located adjacent to the proposed access road (Ashleigh cottage) leading from the local road network (Jevington Road) to the quarry entrance along its southern boundary.

Figure 1 – Filching Quarry (as existing)

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Figure 2 - Surrounding properties at Filching Quarry

Topography

2.7 Filching quarry has steep quarry faces and a relatively flat base, with a steep ramp enabling access from just within the site entrance down to the quarry floor.

2.8 The quarry crest is approximately level and exists at between 126-132m AOD along the northern, western and western half of the southern boundary. The crest height drops down to around 100m AOD along the eastern boundary from the north-eastern corner and from the centre of the southern face.

2.9 At a broader topographic scale the site is located within a sheltered low-lying area. High points in the surrounding area relative to the site are as follows:

• Combe Hill – approx. 1.5km to the southwest at 193m AOD; and • Wilmington Hill – approx. 1.5km to the northwest at 214m AOD

Surrounding Area

2.10 The review site is within the National Character Area (NCA) Number 125 “South Downs”.

2.11 The key characteristics of the South Downs are described as follows:

• prominent chalk outcrop rising gently from the South Coast Plain with a dramatic north-facing scarp and distinctive chalk cliffs formed where the Downs end abruptly at the sea. A chalk landscape of rolling arable fields

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and close-cropped grassland on the bold scarps, rounded open ridges and sculpted dry valleys; • lightly settled landscape with scattered villages, hamlets and farmsteads - flint is conspicuous in the buildings, walls of villages, farms and churches; • Roman roads and drove roads are common and characteristic features and the area is rich in visually prominent prehistoric remains, particularly Neolithic and Bronze Age barrows and prominent Iron Age hill forts; • in the east, rivers from the Low Weald cut through the Downs to form river valleys and broad alluvial floodplains with rectilinear pastures and wet grazing meadows - a contrast with the dry uplands. Above these valleys, the high, exposed, rounded uplands of white chalk have a simple land cover of few trees, an absence of hedgerows, occasional small planted beech clumps, and large arable areas and some grassland; • the eastern Downs have a distinctive escarpment which rises prominently and steeply above the Low Weald. It is indented by steep combes or dry valleys. • woodlands - both coniferous and broadleaved - are a distinctive feature of the western Downs. • in the west, large estates are important features with formal designed parkland providing a contrast to the more typical farmland pasture.

No European Protected Sites were identified within a five km radius of the application site.

Natural Characteristics

2.12 The landform of the local area is characterised by undulating farmland, predominantly grazing pastures with a distinctive concave-convex slope profile, broken by dramatic valley features, for example around Folkington Bottom as well as steep Chalk escarpments.

2.13 This varying pattern of valleys and steep escarpments provides screening of the application site from the majority of lower level views. Within 2km of the application site the land ranges from 10m AOD at Milton Street, 2km west of the site, to 193m AOD on Butt’s Brow 1.3km east of the site, and 214m AOD on Willington Hill 1.5km west of the site.

2.14 Beyond the Downs lie the more gently rolling lowlands to the north and the flatter levels to the east.

2.15 With regard to the application site itself the quarry crest is approximately level and exists at between 90-95m AOD along the northern, western and western half of the southern boundary.

2.16 The crest height drops down to around 63m AOD along the eastern boundary near the access ramp.

2.17 The quarry itself has steep quarry faces and a relatively flat base, with a steep ramp enabling access from just within the site entrance at the eastern edge of the site, down to the quarry floor.

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2.18 The wider area is characterised by expansive areas of chalk grassland, predominantly grazed, with varying degrees of woodland cover, with scrub and hanger woodland predominantly found on the scarp slopes.

2.19 Friston Forest lies just under 1.5km south of the application site. Deciduous woodland is however closely associated with the valleys surrounding the site. To the east of the application site Jevington Road is lined by a mature deciduous woodland belt with scrub understorey which predominantly screens views into the site from the road and from Filching Manor beyond.

2.20 Along with the woodland belts, the site is surrounded by a substantial network of mature hedgerows, with the many public footpaths, bridleways, byways and National Trails which surround the site, edged by dense hedgerows, funnelling views along them and screening out views across the open countryside and towards the application site.

2.21 In addition Teddards Barn and other properties immediately north and west of the application site are set behind dense hedgerows and tree belts which contribute to the irregular and predominantly large scale field pattern.

2.22 Folkington to the north of the site, and Jevington to the south are also set within a framework of woodland. In addition to the hedgerow network, the landscape is also dissected by post and rail, as well as post and wire and temporary fencing creating the patchwork of grazing pastures required for local ‘horsiculture’ which dominates the area.

2.23 There are no open water bodies within or immediately adjacent to the application site.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI’s)

2.24 Wilmington Downs SSSI lies approximately 270m west of the western edge of the site. This is an important area of nationally uncommon chalk grassland habitat on the steep slopes of the South Downs.

2.25 Folkington Reservoir SSSI is located 400m north of the application site boundary and is designated due to the presence of hoary mallow (Althaea hirsuta), a Schedule 8 species recorded in only a few locations in the UK and only on this site in Sussex. The surrounding bunds also support a highly diverse chalk flora.

2.26 SSSI is situated 700m south east of the application site and is designated for its species rich chalk grassland.

2.27 SSSI is located 1.5km south west of the application site and is designated due to the presence of two nationally uncommon habitats; chalk heath and chalk grassland.

2.28 Lullington Heath National Nature Reserve (NNR) is also covered by the SSSI designation discussed above and is sufficiently distant from the application site.

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2.29 Sussex Biolodiversity Records Centre identified five SNCIs within the survey area. Cranedown and Middle Brow located 180 metres to the north of the application site and is a 16.8ha area of calcareous grassland with areas of species rich sward adjacent to the eastern edge of Wilmington Downs SSSI.

2.30 Willingdon and Home Bottom SNCI comprises two areas of unimproved chalk grassland and woodland totalling 21.5ha located approximately 800m south of the site boundary, with grassland of varying quality but species rich with some notable plant species such as clustered bell flower (Campanula glomerata) and dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris).

2.31 Located 1.5km north east of the application site Diplocks wood SNCI is a small former coppice with a diverse groundflora.

2.32 Wilmington Down, Deep Dean and Ewe Dean Fragments SNCI is comprised of three areas of chalk grassland totalling 21.4ha separated and adjacent to Wilmington downs SSSI. The closet fragment, Wilmington fragment is located 1580 metres north-west of the application site.

2.33 Friston Forest SNCI comprises as 805.8ha beech and pine plantation, the main interest of the site is restricted to the rides where diverse botanical communities occur along with a large number of notable and scarce invertebrate of the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Friston Forest lies 1600m south west of the application boundary.

2.34 A small area of Ancient woodland is located 100 metres to the south east of the sit, known as The Boot. No further information on this woodland is known and it was not accessed as part of the site survey.

2.35 The Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre returned comprehensive records for the search area though no records specific to the site itself were returned, records of several notable species were returned for the immediate vicinity of the quarry and are discussed within Volume 3, Chapter 9 Ecology.

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