Bellway donates fencing to keep deer out of Trimley St Martin allotments

High fencing donated by a local housebuilder is helping to keep hungry deer out of an allotments site in Trimley St Martin.

Trustees from Trimley St Martin Poor’s Allotment Charity reached out to Bellway for help after almost daily reports from plot holders that the animals were entering the site off Mill Close and eating their produce.

Bellway, which is building new homes at its Kingsfleet Park development in the village, provided 15 fence panels which have been erected along the eastern boundary of the allotments to make the site more secure.

The 6ft high metal mesh fencing has replaced the 3ft high chicken wire fencing which was previously in place. Tanya Anderson, a trustee of the charity, explained that while the old fencing had been successful in preventing the small muntjac deer which have long been present in the area from entering the site, it had proved no match for the larger roe deer which have become increasingly prevalent in recent years.

She added that after metal mesh fencing donated by another housebuilder was installed along the northern boundary of the site a few years ago, the eastern boundary had become the most vulnerable to deer intrusions.

Tanya said: “There’s always been a presence of deer in the area but the roe deer have become a regular problem over the past five years. The fencing installed along the northern boundary has helped and the chicken wire fencing along the eastern boundary was fine until about 18 months ago. Since then, deer intrusions had become a nightly occurrence and it was obviously extremely frustrating for plot holders to come into the site to find that all their hard work had been eaten by deer.

“We are immensely grateful to Bellway for this generous donation which has allowed us to block off the entire eastern boundary of the site. Since the fencing was installed, we have had no further incidents of deer entering the allotments and eating plot holders’ produce.”

There are around 30 plots on the allotment site and the charity uses income generated from rents to make donations to deserving causes in the village. Tanya said there was a concern that the charity’s ability to support such causes could have been impacted had plot holders chosen not to renew their rents.

She said: “We have a lot of people that have held their allotment for a long time and since Covid we’ve also seen a resurgence in younger people renting a plot. It’s very important that we do our best for them. Thankfully, most of our plot holders have stayed but we appreciate that people will only put up with something like this for so long before they look for an alternative.”

Oliver Dodd, Bellway Senior Site Manager at Kingsfleet Park, said: “We were more than happy to assist when trustees from the charity approached us for help to prevent deer break-ins. We’re pleased to hear that the fence panels we donated have been successful in doing this and hope they will ensure the site remains secure for many years to come.”

Bellway is building 139 homes at its Kingsfleet Park development off High Street. The development features a play area and wildflower meadow which were officially opened to the public last summer. Bellway is also providing land for a new building for Trimley St Martin Primary School as well as funding of £1.2 million towards local services and infrastructure as part of the planning agreement for the development.

For more information about the development, visit https://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes/essex/kingsfleet-park or call the sales team on 01394 763044.

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