An update was received at the recent meeting of The Friends of Sunbury Park regarding the pilot project of cattle grazing in the Park as part of the grassland and biodiversity management programme. As those who have been through the Park will have seen, the fencing and gateways have been installed in preparation for the proposed implementation in the autumn.
However, there have been two complications:
- The kissing gates that were originally fitted did not allow for use by mobility scooters, and it turned out that the suppliers had sent gates of the wrong specification, so replacements are being awaited..
- Having got all the way to this stage, it now appears from a meeting that Spelthorne officers and FoSP Chairman Gerry Ceaser attended with the Surrey Wildlife Trust - who originally proposed the programme - that SWT have expressed concern about the fact that dogs run freely in the Park, despite that fact that this is coming from same people who surveyed the Park in the first place and made the original recommendation.
As a result, Spelthorne are having discussions with an alternative grazier to explore other options. Whatever the case, it is more or less certain that there will be no cattle in the Park until next Spring. It remains to be seen whether there is sufficient time or budget for the grass in the park to be mown during the autumn to avoid the rank grasses compacting down, which is what the grazing was intended to deal with.