The club were devastated to receive a recorded letter from solicitors representing Bellway Homes this morning. The letter informed us that the whole Manor Farm site has been sold to their clients and we will lose fishing rights from 1st December 2021.
We have leased the fishery for many years through a management company based in London. This was a separate arrangement from the farm itself, which was also leased. We became aware that the farm was under offer several months ago, at which point we declared our interest in purchasing the fishing rights should they ever become available and to be kept updated of any developments so we could do all we could to do so. Sadly, this was not taken up by the management company and the first we knew that they were indeed potentially on the market was on hearing they had been sold.
We are unsure what the future holds for the fishery and have written to Bellway Homes to ask that a short term lease could be agreed between the club and them directly to extend our access. We will keep you updated on their response. We retain fishing on the opposite bank and immediately downstream on the Dudsbury Golf Course and New Road stretches.
On a more general level, the loss of such a superb stretch of water to a housing developer is a real blow for all anglers and nature lovers. It is a wonderful place to fish and watch deer frolic in the fields, buzzards soar above and kingfishers dart along the banks. We can only hope any development is sympathetic to the stunning environment it will sit in.