"It's at the heart of the community"

What Can We Do? #11

‘What Can We Do?’ is my free weekly newsletter covering case studies of collective organising from around the world.

The Middlewick Ranges, affectionately known as “the Wick,” is a 76-hectare expanse of natural land on the southern edge of Colchester, Essex. Historically used as a firing range by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the area has remained largely untouched for over two centuries, transforming it into an extraordinarily biodiverse habitat.

The Wick is home to extremely rare and highly protected acid grasslands, along with woodlands and wetlands. It is the second-best habitat in the UK for nightingales, an endangered species, and also supports rare barbastelle bats, waxcap fungi, and a variety of ancient trees. Ecologists have identified that Middlewick meets the criteria for a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in six different categories.

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Despite its ecological value, in 2016, Colchester Borough Council announced plans to allocate the Middlewick Ranges for the construction of 1,000 new homes. In response, local environmentalists launched the “Save the Middlewick Ranges” campaign to protect the Wick for its biodiversity, community significance, and impact on local well-being.

I spoke to Martin Pugh, one of the activists leading the campaign, about his struggle to save the Wick—a battle that ultimately pitted the campaign against the council, private developers, and even the Ministry of Defence.

Fighting Back

“A big reason these developers get away with it is that they win the narrative,” says Martin. “The power imbalance is huge.”

“When we started the campaign, the council and the MoD both told us, ‘We’d love to help, but it’s a done deal.’ The site was already allocated for 1,000 houses.”

Martin and his fellow campaigners realized they needed to prove the council had not done its homework.

“We found they had misclassified 60 hectares of high-quality grassland as arable land. They manipulated the data to downgrade the value of the site from acid grassland—a top-tier priority habitat—to poor, semi-improved grassland.”

Once the campaigners started uncovering misleading data, momentum shifted in their favor.

“We submitted a Freedom of Information request, which revealed outright the manipulation and corruption.”

Shocked by their findings, the campaigners decided to conduct their own ecological surveys. Working alongside experts and organizations such as Buglife, Essex Wildlife Trust, and the RSPB, they began gathering comprehensive evidence of the site’s importance.

““Last spring, we mobilized people for a nightingale survey, putting Middlewick on the map as one of the UK’s top two sites for nightingales. Then we found the barbastelle bats. That’s a name that strikes fear into developers’ hearts—these bats are very rare woodland species, and suddenly, we had evidence of probable breeding here.”

While the environmental case for saving the Wick was strong, Martin knew it wouldn’t be enough.

Mobilizing the Community

“We knew we had to raise awareness in the community because, without public support, not much can be done. If you try to fight as lone voices of naturalists, tree huggers, and experts without the community’s backing, you don’t have a campaign.”

Building a coalition between environmentalists and local community members wasn’t easy.

At first, they tried standard tactics: setting up a petition (which now has over 17,000 signatures) and organizing letter-writing initiatives. Then they started hosting community events to raise awareness about the importance of Middlewick Ranges.

“In legal terms, you have to show that the site is used and valued by the community. So for every survey we did, we made sure to get local people involved.”

“We organized community events and walks, and hundreds of people came out. Last year alone, we held over 20 events, which really helped raise our profile. We attended every ‘Have Your Say’ meeting put on by the council.”

As the campaign progressed, it became clear how deeply residents valued the Wick. Many spoke about how the COVID-19 pandemic made them appreciate easy access to green spaces. Losing Middlewick Ranges would not only harm biodiversity but also impact quality of life for generations to come.

The campaign organised a survey, and found that 65% residents said that spending time in the Wick improves their mental health and wellbeing, while 72% said that it was a great place to get exercise. 46% said that it was the last wild, open space available in Colchester.

“You hear stories of people who played here as kids and now bring their grandkids to run around the sandy slopes. I used to go mountain biking here in the ’90s as a teenager. It’s at the heart of this community.”

The Battle Against Developers

Despite clear evidence of the site’s ecological and community importance, the campaign came up against some pretty powerful vested interests determined to push the development forward.

“There is such a bias within the planning system. They just waved this site through, ignoring all the alternative voices. It took an awful lot of work to reverse the decision.”

But, in the end, they did reverse the decision. Colchester City Council recently proposed removing the Middlewick Ranges from its housing development plan. The proposal is set to undergo a public consultation period, during which residents and stakeholders can express their views.

If the exclusion is finalized, the campaign hopes to transform the Wick into a community nature reserve, ensuring its protection and accessibility for future generations.

Middlewick Ranges isn’t the only such site threatened with development. The Labour government has announced plans to push ahead with a programme of housebuilding, which will all be undertaken by big developers with little concern for the environmental or community impact of their plans. (I wrote about Labour’s close relationship with, and reliance upon, private developers in Tribune.)

Conservation agencies and environmental charities are already stretched and are in no place to properly monitor the environmental impact of new planning proposals. There has been a marked slowdown in the recent designation of SSSIs.

Communities are going to have to get a lot more organised if they want to safeguard the natural spaces upon which we all rely. I asked Martin what lessons he’d like to pass on to other activists thinking about starting a similar campaign.

“You need to come up with overwhelming new evidence, and you need a really strong coalition of both the community and conservation organization behind you. If you do all that, you can win.”

What Can We Do? is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.