Planning Matters

61-65 Limb Lane. This property on the east side of Limb Lane, behind the high stone wall, was once a residential home known as 'the Moss' and owned by the City Council. It was sold and has recently been converted into apartments. The developers applied for the erection of a new bungalow as part of the scheme. This was refused as the property stands in that vulnerable Green Belt between Dore and Whirlow. About two months ago the developers, Goodacre Health Limited made a fresh application for the erection of five garages with two apartments above. The Society was very concerned that this was a further attempt to develop in the green Belt. Thankfully the Planning Officers considered that this application was also unacceptable and the developers have now withdrawn the proposal.

Barber Fields Farm, Long Line. Some three years ago the Council sold Barber Fields Farm. The property itself is just over half way up Long Line on the right hand side. The adjacent farm buildings, including the original old farmhouse, have since been developed as a substantial dwelling. At about the same time the more recent farmhouse, standing nearby, was extended and altered. These properties are well within the Green Belt. The owner of the house has now applied to build a workshop/garage (with storage for animal feed over) and a lambing shed. This is an extensive development, and with very little land attached to the property, is considerably out of scale with the land use. The Society has objected to the proposals as being inappropriate for the location and the Green Belt. The owner also appears to have extended the existing garden into the neighbouring field, without planning permission.

'Long Acre' Newfield Lane. The Planning appeal against the original refusal for 38 units has now been withdrawn by Westbury Homes. The developers have now started work under the approved proposals, initially by removal of trees from the bank on Newfield Lane. It may be recalled that the approved plans necessitated work at the junction of the present access road, including the removal of certain trees to facilitate sight lines, but also included for the replacement of each of these trees with new standard trees in approved situations.

Totley Bridge Garage, Abbeydale Road South. The application for a sales shop with forecourt parking, which was made some time ago, and replaced a previous consent for flats on the site, has now been approved. The development of the site will now no doubt take place fairly soon. Sadly we have lost the facility of another petrol filling station fin the area.

Newfield Lane. There is a field on the west side of Newfield Lane between the bungalow known as Newfield Farm, and The Door Moor House property. Recently the owner has planted a double row of leylandii, the fast growing coniferous trees all along the road boundary, behind the stone field wall, and along the southern boundary, which is very close to the Lodge to Dore Moor House. This is vulnerable Green Belt land and developers have previously made exploratory efforts to get the land developed with houses. Leylandii are totally inappropriate for the site. They can grow very high, and the future prospect for the houses in Newfield Lane, which enjoy extensive views towards Houndkirk Moor, will be appalling. Regrettably there is nothing to stop the planting of these trees, and the purpose of planting is at present hard to understand. But the Society can promise that any attempt to develop this land will be rigorously opposed.

David Heslop

Letters

Today, 27th April, all the healthy mature trees on the left between Newfield Crescent and the lane leading up to the entrance to Longacres were cut down. It is a sad day which should be recorded in Dore to Door. How it ever became allowed is a mystery and a catastrophe. Conservation has gone by the board. As I walked down Newfield Lane this afternoon, every passerby, pedestrian and driver, stopped in amazement at what was going on. Let us only hope that the rest of the Lane and the Recreation Ground are not attacked similarly without warning to residents.

David Andrews

South Yorkshire Forest

Did you know you are sat in the South Yorkshire Forest right now? Yes I know you are at home - but Dore is part of this forest! Bizarre as it may seem the forest is made of houses, towns, villages, opens spaces and yes also some trees. Its called a forest because hundreds of thousands of trees will be planted to improve South Yorkshire for both people and wildlife.

South Yorkshire Forest Partnership is launching a new scheme which will enable more trees to be planted. This is called ‘Gift that Grows’. If you are stuck for present ideas – why not give people trees! You don’t need to worry about fitting a tree in your shopping bag though – ‘Gift that Grows’ does all the hard work. ‘Gift that Grows’ means trees are planted to celebrate Christmas, birthdays and weddings or in memory of special people. The trees are planted in parks and public spaces across South Yorkshire, with planting areas available in Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley.

It costs £5 per tree, this pays for the tree, its planting and maintenance for several years after planting and whoever the present is for recieves a beautiful card with a personal message from you, as well as an invite to the day the trees are planted and a map of where the trees are planted and information about each planting site. Large donations may enable areas of woodland to be named in a persons honour.

The scheme has been a great success so far, a donation of £100 for Graves Park in Sheffield has created a dedicated area of woodland the ‘Eric Marshall copse’. This has been planted by his son Sean Marshall in memory of his father Eric. There has also for example been planting in Rotherham as a wedding present to newlyweds Jess and Gavin.

If you are stuck for present ideas and you would like to give the ‘Gift that Grows’ you can contact the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership on 0114 257 1199 email team@syforest.co.uk or log on to www.syforest.co.uk/gift

The Wildlife Garden

For hoverflies, mimicking the appearance of a wasp can be a double-edged sword. While their bold yellow and black warning stripes may well deter birds from making a meal of them, the wasp-like pattern will hardly endear these insects to most people. If one inadvertently flies in through an open window, it is often at the receiving end of a thwack from a rolled up newspaper. This is a tragedy not only for the insect, but also for the gardeners amongst us, as the larvae of many of the 250 or so British hoverfly species are voracious predators of aphids.

I never realised just how effective they are at killing pests until one spring when I planted a number of chives by my rose bushes. Every year my lovely ‘Maiden’s Blush’ roses would get covered in aphids, which no amount of blasting with water from a hose-pipe or spraying with insecticidal soap could get rid of. One day I read on the Internet that an American organic rose grower had planted garlic bulbs around his roses and found they kept aphids away. He thought the reason for this was probably due to the allium’s pungent smell.

I decided to have a go, but unfortunately that spring the suppliers had sold out of garlic bulbs so instead, as a stop-gap measure, I dug up some of the clumps of chives that were growing in my garden and planted them next to the roses.

All right they might not have the pungency of their Mediterranean cousins, but perhaps the aphids would find the chives’ smell equally repellent. Large numbers of aphids started to build up in spring, but a few weeks after the chives began flowering, they had virtually disappeared.

However, when I examined the roses more closely, I noticed there were a number of small, translucent maggots making their undulating way around the leaves. These unprepossessing organisms were in fact the larvae of hoverflies and it was them, rather than the smell of my chives, that got rid of the pests.

One year’s results are not enough to build up a firm scientific case, but nevertheless, the same thing happened the following summer. Not only did the hoverfly larvae clear all the aphids off my roses, they also cleaned up the nasturtiums and courgette plants - in fact anything that had big floppy leaves which the birds were unable to poke around while looking for food.

So why did it work? Adult hoverflies seem to spend much of their time sitting around sunning themselves and sucking nectar from flowers, although unlike many other flies, they also eat pollen. However, all this self-indulgence isn’t simply the hoverflies equivalent of la dolce vita, once replete with nectar and protein from pollen, a female will search for a suitable place to lay her eggs: always close to a reliable source of food for her young.

In my garden, a female hoverfly was no doubt attracted to the chives’ lovely purple flower heads and found my aphid-infested roses just a short flight away. Of course I can’t prove any of this, but what I do know is that once the eggs hatched and the larvae started searching for food on my roses, the aphids’ days were numbered.

Even though hoverfly larvae aren’t the prettiest of insects in a garden, many adults are handsome creatures. A large number have yellow and black stripes; others are white and black, while some even resemble bees. But despite their different appearances, what they all have in common is that, as their name implies, they can hover and watching one in action is like being present at an aerial ballet.

Not only can they hover in one spot for minutes at a time, they will also dart backwards and forwards across the garden at such speed their progress is breathtaking.

Despite their warning colours, hoverflies are in fact gentle creatures and will happily sit on the back of your hand sunning themselves, their wings shimmering like miniature rainbows. But just as a fidgety three year old child seems incapable of sitting still for any length of time, a hoverfly will soon be off, zipping this way and that above the flower beds.

Apart from the larvae of narcissus flies which feed on bulbs, most hoverflies are innocuous, beneficial insects and it seems ironic that a warning coloration which has protected them for millennia is now a liability. Perhaps nature should step in and print ‘I am not a wasp’ on their wings.

Jack Daw