Deviock Parish Council, with endorsement from Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Cornwall Council, will be competing at auction this week to protect wildlife woodlands adjacent to a popular Countryside Park at the mouth of the River Seaton in Cornwall.

If its bid is successful, the land will be brought into public ownership and protected for the benefit of both the local community and visitors to this popular seaside resort.

In addition, a successful bid would see Cornwall Wildlife Trust working with the Parish Council on an appropriate and sustainable Habitat Management Plan for the land.

The 4.77 acre plot of land, divided into two lots, is located at the mouth of the River Seaton and is being auctioned on Thursday, October 28.

This land is subject to planning designations that include a Tree Preservation Order Area, an Area of Great Landscape Value and a County Wildlife Site - but these unfortunately do not guarantee its future as a wildlife haven.

It is directly adjacent to Seaton Countryside Park and the Forestry Commission confirms the presence of numerous Priority Species including Protected Species such as Brown long-eared Daubenton’s bats, dormice and otters.

As well as its wildlife woodland status, this land plays a role in flood mitigation, and the Parish Council is concerned that any development of the land may exacerbate existing flood issues in the area and threaten the quality of water entering the sea.

Hence Deviock Parish Council’s intention to enter this auction and to protect this land for the public. The Parish Council has allocated a budget from its land acquisition fund and has engaged with partners including Cornwall Council and Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

However, given the very short notice and interest in the lots, The Parish Council is unlikely to succeed in its bid without community support and has launched an emergency Crowdfunder campaign to allow the public to contribute - the link to it can be found at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/seaton-land-auction-fundDeviock Parish Council chair Mark Gibbons has issued the following statement regarding the bid for the land: "Deviock Parish Council was alerted to this auction less than two weeks ago. It's a significant plot, in an important location, which many assume is part of the Countryside Park."It enjoys some protections, which we have researched and made clear to the vendors and the public, but there are absolutely no guarantees that it is safe from development (which we would challenge of course) either now or in the future."So, we immediately engaged with a number of agencies and have benefited from their views, advice and support – but when it became clear that none were in a position to buy it, we voted to act on behalf of the community rather than let this slip by."As a result of the diligence of previous councils, DPC has a ring-fenced fund for land acquisition – so the many other initiatives we are currently engaged in (from the provision of youth facilities to the devolution of assets to the parish) will not be affected by our participation."However, we are not sufficiently resourced to compete on this level – so we rapidly planned and launched a fundraising initiative which includes this public Crowdfunder campaign."As a result of the extraordinary efforts of Councillors (all unpaid volunteers), and the support of partners used to making decisions over months and years rather than days, we have created an opportunity for the public to influence the fate of this land."If you are happy to chance it, let it go to a commercial concern, and trust the current planning system to withstand a well-funded assault on some tenuous protections, then do nothing."If you would prefer to see it taken into public ownership, managed with support from Cornwall Wildlife Trust, and have an ongoing say about its future, then please support us."It's an ambitious, maybe impossible, target – but regardless of the outcome I am satisfied that the Parish Council has done everything within its power to provide the public with a choice in the matter."

For further information, please contact the Parish Clerk - [email protected]