The Management Plan has been implemented by The Garway Hill Commoners Association to improve the natural environment of the Hill and create more open grassland in order to make better grazing available to livestock. The Plan has its origins in the devastation suffered by farmers as a result of the national outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2002. This hit the local area particularly badly and for more than a year Garway Hill was empty of livestock. Without the animals, or any human visitors, the bracken grew completely unchecked.

When livestock farming was able to return to the Hill, the remaining areas of open grassland were under severe pressure and doubts were expressed about the viability of keeping animals on the hill. This might have brought to an end a farming tradition that had survived for centuries, and utimately might have made any sort of recreational access to the hill difficult, so a few of the Commoners decided to do something about the situation. The Garway Hill Commoners Association was formed in 2004 with the express aim of improving the grassland habitat of the Hill. Membership of the Association is now made up of all local residents who have Common Rights on the Hill.

The Association has successfully applied for a grant from Natural England to establish a Higher Level Stewardship Scheme (HLS) on Garway Hill Common. This is the corner-stone of the Management Plan, since it makes available an annual sum of money to pay for bracken clearance and other works designed to stimulate improvement to the natural environment and the quality and availability of open grassland for stock grazing.

Over the ten-year period 2007-2017 the aim is to reduce bracken coverage over the area of the Common by as much as 40%, promoting diversity in its plant life by allowing natural wildflower species to show through and improving the quality of the grass sward. This in turn will allow ground-nesting birds such as the skylark to prosper. In order to ensure that the new open areas can be established in this way without over-grazing, Commoners have agreed that animal stock numbers will be held at 2006 levels for the duration of the Scheme.

Other aspects of the Scheme include the filling of gaps in the Common's boundary hedges and improving the lot of the breeding colony of rare Great Crested Newts which inhabits the Black Pond near the summit of the Hill. There is also provision for a series of organised Educational Visits to the Common. Local schools and other groups will receive a guided tour of the Common, focussing on its history, its flora and fauna and its present day uses.

More information:

Garway Hill Commoners Association

Extract from the Constitution

"The Association's Objects are to enhance, manage and preserve the Common on Garway Hill : firstly for the benefit of all those having grazing or other Commoner's Rights on Garway Hill; secondly to ensure the preservation of the natural habitat; and thirdly for the enjoyment on foot of members of the general public, subject to regulations laid down by the Committee."

Copyright © 2007 Garway Hill Commoners Association