I visit the scarp slope of the South Downs with an ecology-trained adviser and an Old Town local who has walked the area for more than 25 years to hear their fears about how scrub is encroaching on the rare chalk grassland. A company is paid £9,300 of public money a month to implement a ‘downland contract’: I talk to the lead councillor for climate change to find out what is going on
THE distinctive outline of the eastern flank of the South Downs, dipping down to the edge of the town, can be seen from almost anywhere in Eastbourne.
The Downs, along with the still-sedate seafront with a long curve of more than 90 beaches, are the main reasons many people move to the ‘Sunshine Coast’.
From the top of this scarp ridge, from Butts Brow to Beachy Head, there are all-round views of Pevensey Bay across to Hastings, the Levels and as far as the edge of Newhaven Harbour.
It is, without doubt, a striking landscape of swaying grass, ever-changing sky and distant sea.
Chalk grassland is one of the richest botanical habitats in the world, with up to 40 plants within just one square metre.
But it is a landscape largely shaped by people: about 5,000 years ago, in the era of the later Stone Age, Neolithic hunter gatherers started to settle and clear the downland forests so they could farm. The area has been grazed by sheep for centuries, helping create the distinctive grassland.
A coalition of environmental groups has questioned if this rare chalk grassland habitat is being managed properly by Eastbourne Borough Council. According to the council’s Open Data, a contractor is paid £9,300 a month to carry out the downland management contract.
The groups have written to councillors, saying urgent intervention is required to prevent brambles, sycamore saplings and scrub from taking over the grassland.
This encroachment is becoming evident on some areas on the scarp slope.
Nearly a century of public ownership
In 1929 Eastbourne Borough Council bought more than 4,000 acres of downland, including four farms, under an Act of Parliament on behalf of the people of Eastbourne.
This was to permanently protect the farmed landscape from being built on and it allowed the public to roam freely on the area adjacent to the town.
The council tried in 2017 to sell the downland but an extensive campaign stopped this happening. The Eastbourne Downland Group was formed as a result.
The council’s downland management plan 2020 – 2045 states (page 6) that the chalk grassland habitat “should be a priority for protection and enhancement … with the aim of increasing biodiversity, particularly for rare, iconic chalk-downland species”.
It also states (page 39) that “scrub poses a significant threat to the grassland communities. If left without management, the majority of the grassland within the site will, by natural succession, become dominated by scrub and, eventually, woodland.
“The ecological value of the nationally scarce chalk grassland and chalk heath communities will be lost if this is allowed to happen, so scrub control is one of the key priorities for the management of the Downs.”
A walk on the wild side
I walked on the scarp slope, on winding paths, with ecology-trained consultant Julie Bygraves and daily walker Graham Durey, who has known this area intimately for many years – and noticed the changes.
Graham, 75, is a regular walker on the scarp slope of the Downs, which rises up from the Old Town area where he lives.
He ran the 14-bedroom Perran Hotel in Bourne Street until the early 1990s when they had to close due to the recession. He went on to study social sciences as a mature student and worked in social housing in Brighton for many years.
Julie, who has worked as a senior Government policy adviser in several departments, founded Wild Bourne to advocate for the rewilding of this eastern edge of the South Downs and the Eastbourne Levels. You can read why she believes chalk grasslands are so important in a column she has written for the Eastbourne Reporter here.
Graham points out the areas where trees were cleared to get vehicles through for dealing with ash dieback. They are now wide open spaces.
He said: “In the first spring, it was colonised by wildflowers where there had been trees. It’s a joy to see – you get all the invertebrates and smaller birds which you weren’t seeing before. If there was a way for this to be kept clear, it would be lovely.”
“It is almost as if the brambles are closing in on the chalk grassland, like a Sleeping Beauty castle”
Julie bygraves
He said that many years ago he counted 30 species in a small area, using a field guide to wildflowers: “It was mowed annually and was covered in purple-spotted and pyramidal orchids.
“Now they seen to mow along the top, but not here. The brambles grow up, then the sycamore. Nothing grows under sycamore, and it has very little value for wildlife.”
We stop at a small area of open grassland, hemmed in by scrub, below.
Julie said: “This is a reminder to people – imagine that all of this used to be chalk grassland but this is now scrub encroachment. It is letting the people down and denying them the opportunity to enjoy what would have been here. If people forget that it was chalk grassland, they’ll stop asking about it.
“The bramble [above] grows at about 2ft a year. It is almost as if the brambles are closing in on the chalk grassland, like a Sleeping Beauty Castle.
“It is absolute neglect. It really is heartbreaking. Brambles are native, but they are a woodland edge species and not really chalk grassland.”
Graham, above, added: “You can see how the sycamores are just charging forward, down the slopes. That slope used to be covered in clovers but it’s brambles now.”
Julie said: “Sycamore is a naturalised species, but it doesn’t create the under-storey plants.”
What the council says
Jim Murray is Eastbourne Borough Council’s Cabinet member for climate change. He took over this brief just three months ago.
The council’s contractor for managing the downland is Milhams (Eastbourne) Ltd. According to the most up-to-date figures available via Open Data on the council’s website, it is paid £18,724.14 for a two-month period.
This works out as £9,362.07 a month. The company is also paid, in a separate contract, an average of £19,000 a month for grass cutting alongside roads and on verges.
Coun Murray said contractors were monitored by council officers but acknowledged that more attention should be paid to what was happening in the Downland Estate area.
He told Eastbourne Reporter: “While we are aware that some areas are not being cut as they should, improvement plans are in place.”
Coun Murray, above, said 120,000 ash trees have been cut down due to dieback disease, adding: “It is such a massive task: there were no trees at all here 100 years ago.
“We want to keep paths clear and take it from there. We are working on a plan to manage it for this year based on biodiversity.
“Because we have more flowers and butterflies, there are more birds and they are having two broods a year so the nesting season has become longer. This means we could do only two cuts.”
Coun Murray acknowledged that some residents were pushing for faster results: “We are really trying to work with nature rather than force the issue. Some people have been getting frustrated with progress, but we know what we need to do and will be doing it.”
He thanked people who had been in contact about the issue of the downland and said anyone who wished to express their views, should contact their borough councillor or him direct.
Kevin Fingerneissl, of Milhams (Eastbourne) Ltd, told the Eastbourne Reporter: “We are a longstanding contractor for the residents of Eastbourne.”
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