A WOMAN determined to do her best to save some of Alton’s rare chalk downland meadows from the bulldozers has written to Prince Charles asking for his support.

In a last-ditch attempt to stop what she describes as “wanton environmental vandalism”, photographer Ginny Boxall has gone to the top in her bid to try to save the meadows which, she says, have been “untouched by conventional farming for decades” and, as such, have become “a haven for threatened species of orchids and butterflies”.

The meadows also house an iconic Victorian water tower and back onto the ancient Alexandria Woods – named after Queen Alexandria – providing a “valuable wildlife corridor for badgers, owls and roe deer”.

But, she says, all this is destined for housing development, despite the backing of Butterfly Conservation and the Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, and of local celebrity wildflower enthusiast Alan Titchmarsh, who have all voiced their concerns to East Hampshire District Council, as the local planning authority, but to no avail.

Located on the former Treloar Hospital site, the meadows are to form part of a 250-home development (part of the South Alton Plan) which will not only breach the Alton skyline but leave just a small area of land to be handed over and managed by Alton Town Council as a country park.

Having fought for more than three years and raised an online and paper petition to Save Alton’s Butterfly Meadows, which attracted more than 1,000 signatures, and secured national coverage on ITV and the BBC, and with more than 100 letters of protest and Alton’s own neighbourhood plan advising against it, under pressure from the government agency Homes and Communities Agency which owns the land, East Hampshire District Council simply “rolled over and agreed to outline planning for 250 homes”.

“Only 20 per cent of which will be affordable,” said Mrs Boxall.

In her letter to Prince Charles, she continued: “Local people are dismayed. How can this be happening? It will breach the Alton skyline and destroy these irreplaceable and wonderful meadows which locals have enjoyed for generations.”

Having written “in vain” to East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds, and to Natural England, as the meadows contains two designated SINC areas, it all appears to have “fallen on deaf ears”, and Mrs Boxall asks if Prince Charles thinks this is an appropriate response, especially as the land is ‘government crown property’.

In a desperate plea to the prince’s environmental sensitivities, Mrs Boxall concluded: “Sir, I know you champion wildflowers and the need for sustainable and ecologically sound developments, so I am writing to you as a last hope for these precious meadows.

“I have left no stone unturned because, as a grandmother and a keen environmentalist, I could not live with myself if I hadn’t tried everything possible to get this wanton environmental vandalism stopped.”

And she added: “I know we need houses but we have over and above the quota in Alton and other brownfield sites that could be developed first.”

Ginny has been attracting support from all quarters. In expressing his concerns for the future of Alton’s chalk downland meadows, John Ingham, environment editor for the Daily Express newspaper, agreed that “this is happening all too often”.

He flagged up that national statistics show that about 97 per cent of England’s flower-rich meadows have disappeared since 1930, impacting on butterflies and bees.

Furthermore, a recent Campaign to Protect Rural England report found that 70 per cent of homes planned on green belt land were not affordable.