Elm Leys ecology and biodiversity

I and fellow Director, David, did a walk around of the estate with Jan to hear her feedback and guidance and also use it as an opportunity (as agreed at the last AGM) to seek funding to improve certain areas of the estate. Below were the key actions and findings. I’ve also provided some links at the bottom of the message that explains the planning conditions we follow when it comes to the management of the shared areas of the estate which you may find useful.

The key actions and general findings below:-

1. Jan will explore arranging and funding (PC to cover) an ecologist to look at the area by the entrance parking areas to see how we can improve it visually whilst keeping it fit for wildlife.

2. Jan asked if we would consider leaving a 1m area in front of the pond fence as natural growth area - as the plants diversity there are pretty good and would be well supported by this extension. I proposed to add this item to our next management meeting to discuss as clearly most people prefer the grass as it is so we can explore this further and no commitments were made at this stage.

3. Jan will be investigating how movement of wildlife (e.g. hedgehogs) can be best supported along certain areas – e.g. fencing by footpath. This is not about asking people to drill big holes in their fences before you worry!

Overall I think we agreed the areas behind the gardens was looking good, with the single annual strim allowing for development for wildlife. There is some household rubbish being dumped at the back of fences and there is a concern on the impact of wildlife this may have. As a reminder, Householders are not permitted to dump rubbish or garden waste over the back fences – please see the constitution sections 16 for guidance on this.

The pond is looking good and Jan also mentioned the dead patch where the blackberry bush besides the public footpath was would probably need seriously digging out and Jan suggested using some mixed grass/wildflowers seeds for planting once that was done. This is something we have been discussing and subject to funds will seek to explore and this will be added this to our next management meeting.

You may find the following links useful, which describe the overall ecology plans for the estate:-

1.https://www.elmleys.co.uk/our-constitution this is a link to our constitution if you scroll down to section 16 you'll find the most useful information and in the appendices you'll see plans that show how we treat each area of land.

2.https://publicaccess.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/onlineapplications/applicationDetails.doactiveTab=documents&keyVal=PGUSS1CLI3100 is a link to the planning portal and provides detailed plans at a higher quality than available in our constitution.

Thanks Andy

If you have any questions please feel free to comment or email us at office@elmleys.co.uk