Tice’s Meadow Nature Reserve in Badshot Lea, a multi-award winning wildlife haven, has been saved from the threat of development. It has been purchased by a consortium of local authorities, including Surrey County Council. to be preserved as a public open space.
This 136 acre site has been created over the last ten years from a former sand and gravel quarry. Although quite new, this important reserve has many rare and endangered species thanks mainly to the Tice’s Meadow Restoration Group and the Bird Group. Part of the reserve is open to the public and accessed off Badshot Lea Road close to Aldershot.
It is an open green space that has been very important to so many local people during this difficult time of the Covid-19 pandemic. A regionally important wildlife haven, it is a site that protects many hundreds of local houses from flooding, and is a much-used community asset.
Until recently it was owned by Hansons, who extracted the minerals. In November 2020 Hanson formally notified Waverley Borough Council of their intention to sell the site. This put a question mark over its future.
The site is an Asset of Community Value (under the Localism Act 2011), so community interest groups were able to register as a potential bidder, giving them until May 2021 to raise the funds for a bid. Tice’s Meadow Bird Group (TMBG) asked local councils and community groups to join in a coalition to save Tice’s Meadow, and organised a public petition.
In September 2021, the Farnham Herald reported that a consortium of local councils, including Surrey County Council, was bidding for the nature reserve. In December, it was announced that purchase of the site had been completed.
For more information about Tice’s Meadow Nature Reserve visit their website: www.ticesmeadow.org
