Show notes
Season 2 Episode 2: How to Save a Hedgerow
Quarterlands is a grassroots collective made up of friends and neighbours who live in and around the Quarterlands Road, Drumbeg. They have come together as a campaign group to question, resist and hold to account proposed plans from a private “developer”, who wants to build 17 luxury houses on a Site of Local Nature Conservation Importance (SLNCI) within the Lagan Valley Regional Park and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Discovering flaws and discrepancies in a planning application process that appears to show little regard for the site’s precious biodiversity, the Quarterlands Group is gathering evidence, enlisting expert support and keeping a forensic eye on the planning portal’s document trail.
In this episode, we talk to Roisin, local resident and a member of the Quarterlands group. We discuss the natural beauty and environmental significance of the site, its magnificent old hedge, the way the group formed and mobilised, their encounters with local councillors and administrators and what drives the group to continue working tirelessly and voluntarily to protect this place - one of several along the Lagan Valley - against commercial exploitation.
Thanks also to James Orr from Friends of the Earth for his contributions in the outdoor recording. Thanks to all Quarterlands members who so kindly welcomed us into their neighbourhood.
Resources:
Quarterlands’ excellent website https://quarterlands.com/ provides information, reasons for the group’s objections, an easily navigable document trail, and visual evidence of the beautiful flora and fauna found here that the group are working so hard to protect. Visit the website to see how to email your concerns to the planning authorities, write to Councillors and MLAs and object to planning proposal LA05/2022/0033/F.
You can sign the petition here https://www.change.org/p/don-t-bulldoze-our-biodiversity-save-lagan-valley-regional-park
Recent evidence of the biodiversity decline that gives context to Quarterlands’ objections is in the State of Nature Report 2023 that concludes: “In Northern Ireland, 12% of assessed species were at risk of extinction”. https://stateofnature.org.uk/
https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/state-of-nature-report