CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save a ‘priceless’ Devon nature reserve have raised more than £30,000 to help fund their legal battle.

A week-long public inquiry will begin in Newton Abbot next week on August 4 on what has been dubbed Devon’s most controversial planning issue, with the future of the Wolborough Fen at the centre of the battle.

The fen has been a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) since 1990, and is home to species of plants which cannot be found anywhere else in Devon.

Vistry Homes is building on a site on the hillside above the fen.

The inquiry centres on the way water drains from the building site, which is part of the huge ‘NA3’ development bringing 1,200 new homes to an area on the outskirts of Newton Abbot.

Supporters of the project say it will deliver much-needed new homes for the town, and developers say the fen is safe in their hands.

Vistry says water draining from its development site will not make its way into the fen, but objectors including the Wolborough Residents Association fear that it will, and rare plants could be at risk.

The Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) agrees, but the government’s watchdog Natural England says it is satisfied that the fen is not at risk.

The inquiry opens on Tuesday August 4 at Forde House in Newton Abbot and will also be broadcast online.

It will hear three appeals in all, the most contentious of which will be one involving Vistry Devon South West and its measures designed to protect the fen.

Because a decision was not made by Teignbridge Council within a statutory timescale, Vistry has lodged an appeal against non-determination.

The DWT will challenge the drainage proposals, saying they could put the fen at serious risk.

At an earlier hearing a government inspector said he had never known a case where the two sides in the argument were so far apart.

Wolborough Residents Association has attracted more than £32,000 to its crowdfunder to help pay for legal advice and expert evidence for the public inquiry, and is urging the public to back the DWT’s fight.

The trust says the fen, which was designated an official nature reserve in 1970, is one of Devon’s most important wetlands and one of the finest remaining valley fens in south-west England.

It is, it says, ‘a wetland mosaic habitat unique in our area’ in which ‘the plant communities often defy standard categorisation’.

The fen is the last remaining site in Devon for rare saw-sedge and supports an abundance of insects, birds and other wildlife.

‘Once damaged, these complex wetland habitats are impossible to restore,’ says the trust. ‘Once the underlying hydrological supporting conditions are lost, then so are the habitats.’

In a statement the trust goes on: ‘Devon Wildlife Trust recognises the importance of providing homes for local communities.

‘The key question is whether the developer has demonstrated, with sufficient evidence, that the proposed mitigation measures will fully protect Wolborough Fen and prevent irreversible harm to this nationally important wetland.’