Dear Friends,
The SAVE DANES MOSS campaign began in December 2021. Three years later, where are we?
The plan to put 950 homes and other development on the northern most part of Danes Moss (also known as Danes Moss North Local Wildlife Site) appears doomed. It is too difficult to build on deep peat and would be a political and environmental disaster for any council that allowed it to happen.
The danger now is that a ‘compromise’ is proposed by developers or the Council for a
smaller development. This would be no compromise at all. At its peak, the Danes Moss peatland extended to around 1,000 acres. Over the centuries we have lost most of this.
There are now just 480 acres of the Danes Moss peatland left. To suggest that destroying more of this precious gift from nature is a ‘compromise’ ignores that Danes Moss has already been compromised.
A new attempt to build on Danes Moss: 24/4312/OUT
24/4312/OUT is the name of a new application that has been made for a small development on the northern fringes of Danes Moss. It is one of the last undeveloped areas on Moss Lane and has peat on site. It’s not clear whether development here could lead to water draining out of Danes Moss North. We believe wildlife would be harmed by yet more development around Danes Moss. We have objected as a group.
Kept in limbo
In 2024, we have had productive meetings with Barratt Developments (who own half of Danes Moss North) but nothing from Cheshire East Council officers. This makes it very difficult to make any progress with the situation. We have been kept in limbo.
Education, conservation and charity status
Most of our activity the past year has been running educational events for people of all ages on Danes Moss. To date we have shown over 600 young people around Danes Moss on tours, dawn chorus walks, wildlife surveying and talks. But the star educator of our team has to be Izzy Hatton who has over the past two years given Danes Moss talks to over 1,000 local primary school children!
To support our vision of Danes Moss as a nature recovery zone and support this educational activity as a public benefit we have completed our registration of a charity called Danes Moss Trust. More updates on this soon!
Christmas cards
Thank you to everyone who bought our Christmas cards last year: they proved very popular. As with most of our projects this was a collective community effort and thanks goes to everyone involved in creating, distributing, selling and ultimately buying the cards. We managed to raise well over £500, which at the end of a year of fundraising and generous support, has seen our fundraiser achieve a whopping £40,000. A special mention is deserved by Sharon Whitley aka The Rambling Artist ( www.theramblingartist.co.uk ) who, as a long-time supporter of our campaign, generously donated the stunning watercolour images on the front of the Christmas cards.
As ever this month we will be at Treacle Market in the church yard on Sunday 26th January (weather permitting). We are really looking forward to catching up with you all and making some new friends to talk with about the Moss and our plans for 2025.
So what next?
Soon, Cheshire East Council will be consulting the public on a ‘Local Nature Recovery Strategy.’ This is a great chance for us to get better protection for peatlands in Cheshire East. Watch for updates!
In the meantime, thank you – to all of you – for your fantastic support for Danes Moss.
Tom Eccles
Chair – SAVE DANES MOSS
