Stone Common improvements: have your say!

The BCOST Trustees are currently thinking about possible improvements to the public access land at Stone Common.

A green space for all

We hope that many of you who live locally already enjoy this beautiful green space, which consists of all the land to the left of the main track leading up onto the common

Over the period since November 2021, when we received the land by donation from the previous owner Mr Michael Prevost, BCOST work parties have made access easier by the removal of redundant fencing, and have made environmental improvements by clearing waste materials and planting and maintaining fruit trees and a perimeter hedge. The bracken, which had been taking over the space, has been controlled by cutting and shredding (with grateful thanks to Mr Bruce Kerr) and by the mobile grazing of sheep (with thanks to Joy Shaw and Miranda Barclay).

What more might be done, beyond our ongoing habitat management work, to enhance the public access land at Stone Common for the benefit of local residents and visitors? We would love to hear your views.

Sizewell C Community Fund

The Sizewell C Community Fund is making available £2 million per year of grant funding over the next decade for community projects. BCOST is planning on making an application for a ‘small grant’ (which can be up to £10,000) to make improvements to the access land at Stone Common. Our intention is not to make radical changes to the place (we love it as it is, and hope you do too!) but to put together a number of small improvements as a package for the grant application. Here is what we have in mind.

Track repairs

The main track up onto the common has become ridged and potholed, as have some other areas of the tracks on Stone Common.

We would like to undertake work to level, fill, consolidate and improve the surface of the tracks where this is required. Any resurfacing would be done using naturally occurring materials, compliant with the requirements of registered commons, and to avoid pollution of soil or waterways. Any work would also be carried out with due consideration for the rural character of the land, and following advice so as to avoid risk of flooding.      

Picnic bench

We would like to purchase (or commission) and install a bench for use by local residents, walkers and visitors. This would be located not far from the car parking area so as to be reasonably accessible, and placed to offer a view over the valley. We are conscious that the traditional rectangular ‘pub style’ bench with integral table and seats can be difficult to use for older people or those with limited mobility. We have therefore discussed either a round table with benches, or more likely a simple bench seat with a back or back and arms, possibly made from the trunk of a fallen tree.

We would place the bench on slabs to minimise rotting, and its regular timber treatment would become part of our annual work party schedule.   

Birdwatching hide

Another idea is to purchase, or commission the building of, a simple wooden hide, to be placed on the site of existing derelict sheds.

The new hide would be open to members of the public to use for observing the wildlife at Stone Common. Would you like somewhere to sit and watch the barn owls hunting at dusk?  

It might also include a small lockable section where we could store tools and the first aid kit for use by BCOST work parties on the common.

Goat hurdles

We already have a set of sheep hurdles at Stone Common (acquired with the aid of a grant from East Suffolk Council’s Enabling Communities fund). The patchwork grazing of the public access land by sheep helps to keep down the bracken and brambles and maintain the sward in good condition.

However, grazing by goats can also assist in habitat maintenance. While sheep prefer to graze on grasses and tender broadleaf plants, controlling coarser vegetation mainly by trampling, goats like to browse on a wide range of plants including coarser weeds, brambles and woody scrub. Having some goats patchwork grazing on the access land as well as sheep would be good for the health and biodiversity of the grassland.

Goats require a different kind of hurdle, which is taller and which has horizontal rather than vertical bars, which cannot be used as an escape ladder!

Bat boxes

We would like to install some bat nesting boxes in the small wooded area to the right of Prevost’s Path. Barbastelle bats (a woodland species) have been seen flying not far away, in the vicinity of St Peter’s churchyard, and we would hope to attract these rare creatures to Stone Common, too. They prefer to nest in deciduous trees but also like to hunt at dusk over open land, so our habitat should suit them well. 

Let us know what you think!

These are the ideas we are working on, but we would welcome any comments or further suggestions, especially from Stone Common residents or other local people who use the space. We hope to submit our grant application in autumn 2026. Please email your thoughts to BCOST Hon Secretary Eve Rossor (everossor@gmail.com).