Plans to combat antisocial behaviour at East Chevington Nature Reserve

Further improvement works are being planned at a Northumberland nature reserve.
North Pool at Northumberland Wildlife Trust's 185-hectare East Chevington reserve at Druridge Bay.North Pool at Northumberland Wildlife Trust's 185-hectare East Chevington reserve at Druridge Bay.
North Pool at Northumberland Wildlife Trust's 185-hectare East Chevington reserve at Druridge Bay.

Plans for East Chevington Nature Reserve, near Druridge Bay, have been submitted by Northumberland Wildlife Trust.

It wants to remove a wildlife hide which is a ‘hotspot’ for antisocial behaviour and replace it with a simple viewing area.

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However, it also plans to refurbish three existing hides and construct two new ones; a small specialist hide giving close up views on the west edge of the north pool, plus a new hide overlooking the marsh harrier habitat on the south pool with roof terrace.

The work forms part of its Catch My Drift project to improve, enhance and add to the existing visitor infrastructure on site.

A report with the application states: ‘The current hides simply do not inspire people to make use of them. Instead we are looking at transforming the hides to make them more aesthetically pleasing, more comfortable, more welcoming, more useful and as such more inspiring.’

‘Current shelters are ideal locations for unwanted activities, unable to be observed and providing fully enclosed shelter, however are supremely robust.

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‘The shelter that suffers the most from anti-social behaviour is to be removed completely, whilst others are to be adapted to take into account how users typically interact with those areas; some hides being more traditional observation spaces, some more as exploded shelters giving weather shelter but being transparent and open to encourage all users whilst discouraging anti-social activities.’

Improvements to seating and interpretation are also planned.

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