Campaign to save Alton's Butterfly meadows

Development should not come at the expense of such a delicate habitat. This balanced ecosystem has taken generations to established and can not be recreated. Once it has gone it is lost forever.

There is already too much housing development in the town given the local infrastructure.

Save some space for life

My family have enjoyed looking at these meadows for years & we cannot allow it to be lost forever. Our town has endured a large amount of house building already in our green fields. Their has to be a balance between Mother Nature & house building! At the moment Mother Nature is losing !

Please save our countryside

We should never forget the importance of green spaces that support many species, bird, mammal, insect, amphibian and plant life. All over the South i am seeing development of land and the destruction of habitats that should be protected but aren't.

This is not only a beautiful spot for wildlife photography but is also one of the highest points in the town, with beautiful outlooks.

Thanks so much for getting our petition to over 1,000 , well done everyone and please keep sharing

Progress is going to continue that is for sure, however whilst we have already committed to developments currently under construction in Alton, I feel we need to now take stock of our infrastructure which in not yet in place and to protect what little areas of beauty we have, before building yet a housing development we are spinning to many plates and not concentrating listening to the voices of Alton.

We need to preserve our precious wildlife spaces. We can never get them back once built on.

When others are striving to recreate these precious habitats why is it seemed appropriate to destroy the meadows here. With the brewery site having become available for development, surely common sense should prevail. How can it be right for our generation to destroy the environment for future generations.

Please save this site

This is a beautiful and probably unique area. I have seen butterflies and flowers here that I have never seen anywhere else. It must be protected for future generations.

I love this meadow, the view is great and it is a beautiful green breathing space for the people of Alton and around. I have seen many wild flowers including orchids. It is humming with insect life and butterflies.

Please don’t let more houses destroy the habitat of these beautiful butterflies!

Protecting the Butterfly Meadows has to be a priority. As Central Government pressurises Local Authorities to build more human housing, let's not forget that wild creatures need homes too. And we need them.

Please save the meadows its a very special place and would ruin the landscape and have a very negative environmental effect.

The Meadows are about the only naturally beautiful place left in Alton and it would be sacrilege to kill it forever.

Building on this site that is rich in wildlife and much loved by local people is unnecessary and damaging. We don’t need houses here to make up Alton’s quota now that the brewery site is to be developed. Even if we did need additional sites for housing, this is too high up to be suitable as it will wreck Alton’s skyline (again). Moreover, the houses planned are not what Alton needs. The idea that a small area of the site will be turned into a so-called “country park” - no doubt tamed and sanitised by asphalt paths and artificial “play areas” - is almost insulting given the comparative natural richness of what will be lost.

Chalk downland is a very special type of scarce habitat, and under various pressures which threaten its existence. Once it has gone, there is no going back. Build on 'brown field' sites and keep this jewel for future generations to enjoy, and particularly for the wildlife which has adapted to this scarce habitat.