A CAMPAIGNER in Bicester has launched a petition urging the environment secretary to offer more protection to the country’s wildlife sites.

Dr Pat Clissold, of Woodpecker Close, founded the Save Gavray Meadows campaign group to fight against the threat of development on the site by Gallagher Estates.

The meadows, off Gavray Drive, are officially registered as a Local Wildlife Site. Dr Clissold would like to see protection of such wildlife havens, which are recognised in planning policies, brought into UK law.

She said: “At the moment developers think that regulations around Local Wildlife Sites are so weak they may as well buy the land and then get round it in a couple of years.

“I've decided that Local Wildlife Sites everywhere need protection and shouldn’t be built on. They shouldn’t be treated as though they don’t have value.”

Gavray Meadows contains ancient ridge and furrow meadows, rare orchids and other wild flowers, hedges and a variety of butterflies, birds, lizards and other animals.

Plans for homes on the land were originally put forward by Gallagher Estates in 2006, though ecologist Dominic Woodfield managed to get the planning approval quashed in the High Court in 2013.

However, the developer once again gained approval for 300 homes on the site in February this year.

But the Local Plan, which outlines where housing can be built in the area, had said a small Conservation Target Area (CTA) on the site, recognised by local councils and conservation bodies as a bio-diversity hotspot, should not be touched.

The clause was successfully appealed by Gallagher earlier and, despite attempts by campaigners to overturn this decision, it was upheld by the Rt Hon Lord Justice Laws and Rt Hon Lord Justice Lindblom at the Royal Courts of Justice on October 12.

The development site is now likely be readopted in Cherwell's Local Plan at the district council's full meeting on December 19.

Dr Clissold said that Local Wildlife Sites should have the same protection as Local Nature Reserves, which are protected against development in UK law.

She said: "Protection of Local Wildlife Sites in law is vital for nature conservation. They have been selected by ecology experts for their value to nature. Therefore it is heart breaking to watch a site get so overgrown from neglect that rare wild flowers, birds and butterflies disappear from the site.

"Local Wildlife Sites are an important resource for children to learn about nature and for every one to get out in the fresh air and enjoy nature. They provide humans with a link to the natural world. We do not want to lose them."

There are 42,000 Local Wildlife Sites in England covering five per cent of the land.

To view the petition go to bit.ly/2gFbLsx