Brook Meadow is an area of land north of the A259 in the town of Emsworth, Hampshire. Since the eastern part borders onto West Sussex, a small section is in fact in West Sussex.
Brook Meadow covers an area to the east of North Street in the town of Emsworth behind the gasholder. It is bounded in the east by the gardens of the Lumley Road cottages and further south by the Lumley Stream, Lumley Lane and Gooseberry Cottage. To the west it is bounded by the River Ems and Palmer’s Road industrial estate. The northern boundary is formed by the Portsmouth –London and Brighton railway line as well as the northern part of the River Ems. The A259 forms the boundary to the south.
See map 1 and the aerial photos location and detail for the location of Brook Meadow within Emsworth.
Map 2 shows the boundaries, footpaths, entrances, rivers and streams, bridges, footpaths, roads, location of adjacent buildings and industrial estates.

3.1.2    Land tenure

Most of the site is wholly owned by Havant Borough Council (HBC), this is the area coloured pink on map 3 this map also shows that HBC only owns part of the riverbank along this section of the River Ems. The northern riverbank is owned by Railtrack but it has not been possible to ascertain the ownership of the riverbank behind the industrial estate because this area of land is not registered at the Land Registry in Portsmouth. It might be necessary to establish ownership in the event of putting up fencing, tree felling, etc., in the future.
Havant Borough Council has owned the site now known as Brook Meadow (previously called Lumley Meadow) since 1990 when it was purchased from the Mitchell family who used to live at Constant Spring, next to Lumley Mill.
Area: The site covers an area of about 3.7 hectares, divided between unimproved grassland, a chalk river and stream, and small wooded areas.
Grid reference: SU 751061.
Local Planning Authority: Havant Borough Council.
Rights of Way: A right of way for walkers, cyclists and horses runs along Seagull Lane just outside the northwest boundary of the site. All paths within the site are permissive.
Wayleaves: It is believed that a number of services such as gas and electricity pass under the north western part of site known as the Seagull Lane patch.
The following way leaves are known to exist:

1. Wayleave consent for a gas pipe along the western edge of Seagull Lane from the gasholder on Palmers Road to the gas distribution station to the north.
2. Wayleave consent to have a main foul sewer below the land at Seagull Lane given to Mr and Mrs Eades, June 1992.
3. Wayleave consent to allow Southern Electric to supply the Orange Telecom mast at Seagull Lane, March 1999.

The presence/absence of these and other services has been checked. The results are given in section 4.5.6 under Health and Safety and in
        appendix 8, map1 gas and map 2 water.
Visitor parking: Parking is available at Palmers Road car park at the south-western boundary of the site.
Designations: Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC). Compartments A, E, F and G (see section 3.1.7) do not fall within the designated SINC area Appendix 3, map 3.(pdf)

3.1.3    Management infrastructure

The site is managed as a wildlife reserve for the conservation of the features identified in the designations associated with the area.
Havant Borough Council (HBC), as the owners of the site, are responsible and accountable for the overall management of Brook Meadow. The term ‘management’ as used in this Plan is with respect to conservation. The Plan is subsumed within the HBC Management Plan.
The Offices of Havant Borough Council are at the Civic Offices, Havant. There is no site warden. The management of the wooded and grassland area is carried out in close cooperation between the Brook Meadow Conservation Group (BMCG) and the Open Spaces Development Team of Havant Borough Council. The management of the River Ems is carried out in close collaboration between BMCG and the Environment Agency.
Volunteers of BMCG have played a major role in the establishment and success of the proposed reserve. All of the site wardening, and most of the species monitoring has been carried out by volunteers. The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) was instrumental in getting the conservation group started by providing practical training courses as well as very valuable advice and support, especially about funding. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HWT) has also played an important role by giving management advice and carrying out various wildlife surveys. Most of the work to date has been funded by various national bodies such as SITA UK (recycling and waste management service provider) in the form of a Landfill Tax grant and the New Opportunities People’s Places award scheme. HBT have provided funding in the past but more recently they have been carrying out some conservation work themselves or are contracting it out.
The Environment Agency clears the River Ems of vegetation and obstructions to prevent flooding and currently carries out a policy of green cutting on the riverbanks.

3.1.4    Site infrastructure

Controlled vehicle access is via locked gates either from an unsurfaced road, Lumley Lane, off Lumley Road or at the end of the surfaced part of Seagull Lane off North Street.
There are two bridges across the River Ems, three entrances and gravel paths across the site from north to south and east to west. A public car park is within walking distance.
There are three metal Brook Meadow signs on nearby footpaths along the A259 and wooden handmade signs at all three entrances. Litter bins and doggy bins are at all three entrances with a vandal-proof seat on the central Causeway.
Interpretation boards at two entrances and three regularly updated signcases as well as a signcase dedicated to Water Voles provide interpretative material for visitors.

3.1.5    Map coverage

OS map Sheet 197 scale is 1: 50,000.
In addition, various features, such as the main trees and paths, have been plotted onto a digital copy of the OS map with the aid of John Carter of the Friends of Park Wood using GPS equipment. The mapping program used was Trimble GPS Pathfinder Office. See  map 2 (original scale 1:2,000).

3.1.6    Photographic coverage

Aerial photographs of the site taken in August 2000
Fixed-point photos have been taken twice a year in January and June since June 2003.
Members of BMCG have taken a large collection of photographs of the site, including wildlife, management activities and the various events and activities which have taken place since September 2000.

3.1.7    Compartments

The site is divided into a number of different sections as shown on map 4. The central causeway and raised paths were constructed by HBC in the late 1980s when the A27 was built, and the two bridges were built during the 1980’s and 90’s.
The main areas of the site are summarised as follows:
Area A: Palmers Road copse:
A small area of deciduous woodland (approx. 0.4 ha, length 106 m, average width 34 m) most of which is located along the western bank of the River Ems with a riverside walk. Palmers Road copse adjoins Palmers Road car park (CP on the map).
Area B: South Meadow:
A flat, very fertile area; length 110 m, width varies between 13 m in south to 50 m in north (estimated area of 0.5 ha) with mainly rank vegetation (Common Nettle) in the southern most part of the site. This is the main entrance (marked with a red I on the map) to the site from the car park and to the eastern part of Emsworth via an underpass under the A259. Bounded by an embankment along the River Ems in the west, a tall bramble bank around Gooseberry Cottage in the east, the A259 in the south and the Causeway in the north. The Causeway is a raised embankment running from east to west across the meadow, dividing the South Meadow from the Central Meadow. The South Meadow serves as a balancing pond at times of heavy rainfall by opening the sluice (marked with an X on the map). Thus preventing the houses on Queen Street further south from flooding.
Area C: Central Meadow:
A flat, fertile area of tall herbs and grasses, length 125 m, average width 75 metres (estimated area of 0.6 ha). Bounded in the north by a line of Crack Willows running from east to west, the Causeway in the south, an embankment along the River Ems in the west and the Lumley Stream in the east. The eastern entrance (marked with a red II on the map) leads from Lumley Path off Lumley Road onto the central causeway. This locked gate provides controlled vehicle access.
Area D: North Meadow:
A flat, fertile area of tall herbs and grasses, approx. length 150 m, average width 75 m (estimated area 1.7 ha) This area is north of the line of willows and is bounded by the embankment along the River Ems to the north and west. The River Ems forms the northern boundary with a steep railway embankment behind it.
There are two groups of trees in the northern part of the North Meadow:
West Plantation: to the west near the gasholder surrounded by a wire fence. These trees were planted by HBC in about 1994.
East Plantation: on the north-eastern edge adjacent to the gardens of Lumley Road. (Marked as WP and EP on the map, respectively)
Area E: Lumley Road copse:
A small area (0.3 ha) of dense wet scrubby woodland bounded by the Lumley Stream to the east. This area is in West Sussex.
Area F: Seagull Lane patch:
A small flat area, length 77 m average width 17 m (estimated area is 0.3 ha) of low to medium height herbs, grasses and bushes in the extreme north west of the site at the end of Seagull Lane with the River Ems to the east. This is the northern entrance (marked as a red III on the map) to the site which adjoins a small industrial estate.
Area G: Lumley Stream:
The eastern boundary of the site, fed by the Ems from Lumley Mill and serving as an overflow stream. This stream runs alongside Lumley Road, alongside the front gardens of Lumley Cottages into Lumley copse, under Lumley Path and a small footbridge before entering Peter Pond (semi-saline lagoon) in the south. This area is in West Sussex.
Area H: River Ems:
The River Ems enters Brook Meadow from the north via a culvert under the railway line at the north-eastern corner of the site. It is also fed by a spring issuing to the north and entering the Ems through a culvert under the A27 in the northwest corner of the North Meadow. The River Ems flows along the northern and western edges of the site and then through Palmer’s Road copse before leaving Brook Meadow under the bridge over the A259 in the south. There are two wooden bridges which provide access to Brook Meadow across the River Ems. One is near the south entrance and the other is near the north entrance (built in 1989 and 1992, respectively). The western banks of the Ems are bounded by the Palmers Road industrial estate (partly fenced), back of Seagull Lane industrial estate and Palmers Road copse. There is a simple sluice (marked with an X on maps 4 and 5, on the lower reaches of the river which serves to release water into the South Meadow as times of high rainfall.