Green Martinstown Open Evening on “Water”: A Summary

Green Martinstown Open Evening: A Summary

Thank you again to everyone who came along to our Green Martinstown Open Evening on Thursday evening, and a warm hello to those who couldn’t make it but are catching up via this summary. Special thanks to Chris and Lilly at The Manor for welcoming us into their home and being such generous hosts.

What follows is a recap of the evening’s main topics: an update on the Community Asset Transfer (CAT), some notices and opportunities to get involved, Russ Taylor’s inspiring talk about his conservation work in Winterbourne Steepleton, and Andy Daw’s fascinating tour through our chalk valley water systems.

Community Asset Transfer (CAT) – where things stand

Colin opened the evening with an update on our application for the Community Asset Transfer of the ten acres of Dorset Council land to the north of the church and St Martinsfield – the two fields behind the houses, running down to the footpath. The land was formerly part of a tenanted council farm and has been largely unused since the farmer retired.

Green Martinstown submitted a proposal to bring this land into community use through nature- friendly projects: tree planting, ponds, wildflower meadows, allotments and other habitat work. Stage 1 of the CAT process, which tested local support and “people power”, was successful. Dorset Council’s CAT team initially felt we had the skills, structure and volunteers to take the project forward.

Stage 2 required a detailed Business and Management Plan. Over six–nine months the group produced an 80-page document, submitted at the end of April, setting out our research, vision and long-term management. At that point, instead of formal feedback, we were told Dorset Council was pausing decisions while they reviewed more than 600 land assets across the county, including our 10 acres.

When the decision finally came back around six weeks ago, the application was not supported. The reasons given were mainly:

Access: concerns over vehicle access, especially the few occasions vehicles might need to reach the site, for example for maintenance or emergencies.

Change of land use, particularly the solar element: the Council wanted clarity on how a proposed small solar scheme would connect to the grid and whether there was capacity at the local substation. We had always envisaged this detail being worked out at feasibility-study stage after the land transfer; commissioning full feasibility beforehand would have been expensive and time- sensitive, especially when we could not rely on prompt decisions from the distribution network operator or the Council.

We have since asked whether removing the solar section and focusing solely on low-impact uses (orchard, ponds, meadows, allotments) might alter their view, and whether a transfer of only part of the land could be considered. We have also requested an on-site meeting with the relevant officers.

The most recent reply stated that “the case is now closed”, so expectations are realistic—but several people at the meeting felt a carefully revised or new application might still be possible in future, using the work we have already done.

Colin also noted that, because access is so constrained, major development such as housing remains unlikely. However, Dorset Council has signalled that under-used assets may be considered for sale to help plug budget gaps, and this land now appears on that list. Our hope is that it will remain in agricultural or nature-friendly use, and we will continue to monitor the situation and keep the community updated.

Updates and Notices from the Group

A few notices and opportunities to get involved:

Tree planting volunteers

We are looking for volunteers interested in helping with tree planting between now and March. There are several local projects in the pipeline (including support for Russ’s land at Winterbourne Steepleton and hedge projects nearby). If you’d like to get your hands in the soil, please let us know.

Scottish dancing in aid of Green Martinstown

The weekly Scottish dancing group in the village hall on Tuesday evenings has kindly offered to donate its modest proceeds (£3 per session) to Green Martinstown. It’s good fun, mentally and physically energetic, and now also supports local nature work!

Burns Night – 23 January

Our Burns Night celebration will take place on 23 January in the village hall, with Scottish dancing, poetry, and haggis, neeps and tatties. Numbers are limited to around forty to allow space for dancing. Tickets and a sign-up sheet are available via the group – do get in touch if you’d like to come.

Director vacancy (CIC)

Dave Milner will be stepping down as a director of the Green Martinstown CIC in April when the next accounts are due. We will therefore need a new director. The role is not onerous: it is primarily to meet Companies House requirements rather than to act as treasurer or book-keeper. If you might be interested, we’d be happy to talk it through.

Membership forms are also available for anyone who would like to formally join Green Martinstown.

Russ Taylor’s Conservation Work in Winterbourne Steepleton

We then heard from Russ Taylor, who shared the story of his 17-acre “arrow-shaped” piece of land at Winterbourne Steepleton, bought in September last year. It sits between the Portesham Road and neighbouring farmland in a steep chalk valley – thin, flinty soils, low natural fertility and water running off the intensively farmed land above. In conventional farming terms it is not easy land; in conservation terms, it is full of potential.

Russ has been involved with nature and hedge-laying for more than thirty years and has long wanted a place where he could “give back to nature”. His vision is to create a mosaic of habitats – meadows, hedges, pockets of woodland, open grassland and a wildlife-friendly barn area – a kind of small-scale rewilding project, somewhere between a garden and a large estate.

Hedges and the “mosaic” approach

Hedgerows are a cornerstone of this plan. Instead of traditional, very neat, stake-and-binder hedge- laying (labour-intensive and costly at scale), Russ uses a more “scruffy”, flexible style: different heights and angles, minimal staking, and careful retention of favoured trees as perches. This produces thick, resilient hedges that birds and insects love, while also making roadside hedges less vulnerable to being flailed flat at a single uniform height.

Earlier this year Russ planted around 1,000 hedge plants along the roadside. Despite mulching and watering, the exceptionally dry summer led to roughly 30% losses, and he plans to keep “gapping up” those sections. Further hedge lines are planned along the top boundary – about half a mile in total – contributing to the wider vision behind projects such as the Great Dorset Hedge along the Jubilee Trail.

Meadows and grassland management

Working with Dorset Wildlife Trust, Russ has identified the upper fields and a steep bank as ideal for wildflower meadows. To help wildflowers outcompete coarse grasses, soil fertility has to be reduced over time. Russ has been:

• taking hay cuts to remove nutrients, and

• borrowing cattle from neighbours for targeted grazing.

The combination of a very wet winter (which poached the ground) followed by recovery in spring has actually helped more wildflower seed to germinate. Key species such as yellow rattle and red bartsia – both parasitic on grasses – are being encouraged to weaken the sward and create space for a richer mix of flowers and associated insects.

Woodland, deadwood and wildlife

A major next step is the creation of around three acres of new broadleaf woodland at one end of the site, funded by a grant Russ has recently secured. Because deer visit the area, the new trees will need fencing. There are also plans for smaller copses and pockets of trees elsewhere on the land, both to replace ash lost to dieback and to add structural variety.

Dead wood is being used creatively too. Standing dead elms along part of the valley are left as hunting perches and insect habitat, and where material allows, dead hedges are being built to provide shelter for birds, hedgehogs and other small mammals.

Russ’s barn is being rebuilt at the front in locally sourced Dorset larch, with help from local craftspeople. The aim is to turn it into a flexible space for rural crafts, small gatherings and possibly art or education sessions, alongside installing nesting features for barn owls, bats and swallows. Grass is being managed at specific heights to encourage voles, an important prey species for barn owls and kestrels, and butterfly experts visiting with Dorset Wildlife Trust have already recorded an impressive abundance of butterflies across the site.

A long-term, mixed model

The project currently relies on a mixture of grant funding and modest income from a small holiday cottage on site; in time, Russ hopes the barn and a very small, low-impact “conservation campsite” might contribute as well. He described it as a long-term, modest, nature-led project rather than a commercial enterprise – one that will benefit from volunteer help, particularly with tree and hedge planting over the coming winters.

Green Martinstown volunteers will be very welcome to be part of this work as it evolves.

Andy Daw on the South Winterborne and Chalk Valley Water Systems

Finally, Andy Daw took us on a tour of the water that shapes our valley – from the molecular quirks of H2O to chalk aquifers, flooding, sewage, Poole Harbour, and possible future solutions.

What makes water so special?

Andy began with water’s basic chemistry: one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms arranged at a slight angle (about 105° rather than in a straight line). That small bend allows water molecules to form strong hydrogen bonds, giving water its:

• high surface tension (think pond skaters and water beading on leaves),

• ability to exist naturally as ice, liquid and vapour, and

• role as a universal solvent, carrying dissolved nutrients through soils, into plant roots and around our bodies in blood.

Water’s behaviour underpins the whole water cycle – evaporation, condensation and precipitation – and as the climate warms, more energy in the system is leading to more intense downpours and more volatile weather patterns.

Chalk beneath our feet

The South Winterborne is a chalk stream, something globally rare. Chalk, formed 60–100 million years ago from the microscopic skeletons of marine plankton, is a porous, alkaline rock that both

stores and transmits water. Although only around 2–3% of chalk is made up of cracks, those fissures act as the pathways for groundwater.

The chalk aquifer beneath Dorset is part of a band that runs across much of southern and eastern England. It is a nationally important water source, providing a significant share of the UK’s drinking water. Groundwater levels in the chalk rise and fall over time; in 2012 they reached record highs, and new springs appeared in places where no-one had seen them before – including, dramatically, in people’s sitting rooms and under carpets. Springs in a chalk landscape are mobile: they shift according to the height of the water table.

Our own South Winterborne rises near Winterbourne Abbas, flows through Steepleton, Martinstown and Monkton, and eventually joins the River Frome at West Stafford. Over centuries the channel has been straightened and “tidied” – including the construction of the sheepwash and culverts that divert water under the road to fill it.

From Martinstown to Poole Harbour – nutrients and farming

From West Stafford, the water ultimately makes its way to Poole Harbour, a nationally and internationally important wetland with high conservation status. Poole Harbour now suffers from excessive levels of nitrates and phosphates, which can fuel algal blooms and affect wildlife.

These nutrients come from a mix of sources: • agriculture (fertilisers, slurry, soil erosion), • wastewater and sewage, and

• other diffuse pollution.

In response, farmers across the Poole Harbour catchment have formed the Poole Harbour Agricultural Group. They work with advisers to adjust cropping and cultivation to reduce nutrient losses – for example, sowing fast-growing grasses immediately after maize harvest so that the cover crop can capture around 50–60 kg of nitrogen per hectare that would otherwise leach away. Such changes have real financial impacts for farmers, but are part of the wider effort to protect the harbour.

Soil, erosion and “diffuse pollution”

Andy explained how bare soil is vulnerable to heavy rain. Raindrops break down soil structure, and fine particles wash into ditches and streams. Because topsoil accumulates very slowly, losing even a thin layer represents years of lost fertility. On chalk, soils are especially shallow, with thin topsoil directly over bedrock.

When soil is carried into rivers it also transports attached nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. This is one form of diffuse pollution – pollution that comes from many small sources across the landscape rather than a single pipe. Tyre wear from vehicles, residues from roads and other everyday activities contribute as well.

Keeping soil covered with vegetation – permanent pasture, cover crops, hedgerows and trees – helps intercept rainfall, reduce runoff and keep both soil and nutrients on the land rather than in the river.

Drinking water, drainage and septic tanks

Locally, most of our drinking water comes from boreholes drilled into the chalk, then filtered, chlorinated and stored before being piped to homes. The Environment Agency and UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology monitor groundwater levels at boreholes such as Kingston Russell, and this data is publicly available.

On the household side, Andy emphasised several practical points:

• Roof water should ideally not be connected into the foul sewer system, as this overloads pumps during heavy rain. Soakaways or water butts are preferable where possible.

• Greywater systems (re-using water from baths, showers and sinks) can be useful in new builds but are often complicated and costly to retrofit.

• Septic tanks can work well in suitable locations, slowing water so solids settle and are broken down by bacteria before cleaner water seeps into a soakaway – but only if the tank is not inundated by groundwater and is properly maintained.

The sewage system in Martinstown

Martinstown’s sewage is collected in a main sewer that runs through the village to a pumping station at the east end, where it is pumped over the hill to Dorchester for treatment. In recent years Wessex Water has upgraded pumps, but the system still struggles when too much water gets in.

The main problems are:

• Groundwater infiltration through cracked or ageing pipes (both in the public system and, in some cases, on private property).

• Roof and surface water mis-connected into foul sewers, adding unnecessary volume during storms.

When the system is overwhelmed, Wessex Water uses storm overflows to discharge dilute sewage into the South Winterborne to prevent it backing up into homes. In 2024 there were 223 recorded discharges, lasting a total of 2,641 hours. Even in November alone, there were three short discharges (11, 7 and 3 minutes). Although the company argues that these flows are highly diluted and within their permit limits, they are clearly far from ideal in a sensitive chalk stream.

Wessex Water is now exploring the use of reed beds as part of future solutions. Reed beds act as natural treatment systems, using gravel beds and reed roots teeming with bacteria to break down nutrients. A two-hectare reed bed scheme at Lytchett Minster, costing around £2 million, is already

under way; a potential site near Clandon Farm has been discussed as a similar approach for our catchment.

Monitoring the South Winterborne

Green Martinstown volunteers already play a role in monitoring local water quality. Through the Westcountry Rivers Trust CSI scheme, we regularly sample ten sites between Winterbourne Abbas and West Stafford, recording:

• phosphate levels

• pH

• temperature

• turbidity (cloudiness)

• dissolved solids.

These are complemented by other datasets and projects, including: • Riverfly monitoring of freshwater invertebrates,

• flow measurements from UKCEH at Winterbourne Steepleton, • Natural England catchment assessments, and

• Wessex Water’s own spill reporting.

Taken together, they help build up a picture of how quickly our chalk stream responds to rainfall, how nutrients and sediments move through the system, and where pressures on the river are greatest.

Looking Ahead Together

The evening underlined how closely linked our land, water, wildlife and decisions really are.

The CAT story highlighted both the challenges and possibilities of securing land for community-led nature projects.

Russ’s project showed what determined, thoughtful stewardship can achieve on a small farm over the long term, especially when neighbours and volunteers are involved.

Andy’s talk gave us a deeper understanding of the chalk beneath our feet, the behaviour of the South Winterborne, the realities of sewage and flooding, and the wider connection to Poole Harbour.

As a community, the more we understand how this chalk valley works – from groundwater levels and runoff to habitat creation and nutrient pressures – the better placed we are to make wise choices: about drainage around our homes, about how we support local farms and projects, and about the kinds of landscape we want to pass on.

Green Martinstown will continue to share information, organise practical work such as tree planting, pond digging and hedge projects, and keep the conversation going. If you’d like to get involved in any way – from monitoring the stream to planting trees or simply staying in touch – we’d be delighted to hear from you.