BORDON'S local nature reserve, the Deadwater Valley, will now be protected from misuse after East Hampshire District Council unanimously agreed to adopt new bye-laws last week. The area will now be protected from people lighting fires carrying firearms and damaging the wildlife. Both EHDC and Whitehill Police have said that they can and will prosecute individuals caught breaking the new laws. Bill Wain, chairman of the Deadwater Valley Trust, gave a presentation to EHDC at a meeting last Wednesday explaining how and why Deadwater Valley needs protecting. He said that the reserve has at least nine different habitats and nearly 1,000 different plant and animl species and that currently the nature reserve has problems which cannot be dealt with using current laws. "The Deadwater Valley is a wonderful resource for the benefit of our community," he said. "We need bye-laws because we are a local nature reserve and we have problems that ordinary laws do not deal with, such as carrying firearms, lighting fires, collecting plants, dumping alien garden plants, horse grazing and horse riding." He explained that these particular bye-laws refer to paddling, model boats and cameras because they are a set of standard bye-laws for local nature reserves and the trust has been instructed to change them as little as possible. He continued: "All of the prohibited activities can be allowed by licence. If a film company wanted to use the Deadwater Valley as a background and the trust and council were prepared to accept their suggestion, then it could be done under licence." Deadwater Valley Trust Ranger, Mike Wearing spoke out in September after youths were damaging land in the Deadwater Valley by lighting fires and smashing bottles over a tree stump. Some damage was so extensive a tree had to be felled because it was no longer safe. Mr Wearing is very pleased about the decision to adopt the bye-laws, which he said the Deadwater Valley has needed for many years. He said: "It's another tool and it gives police a bit more power too." He said these bye-laws are ones already adopted by the county council in open spaces and used by the Army. He added: "It's taken so long, but now if we catch someone riding a motorbike through the woods they are actually breaking the law."
