Hundreds of concerned residents have signed a petition against new houses being built on the border of Selsdon Wood.

A planning application to build 15, three-bedroom houses in Quail Gardens has been submitted to Croydon Council.

It has been lodged by The Oakwood Group and the site is situated on the south eastern side of the road – Currently part of the garden for 46 Quail Gardens in South Croydon.

But some residents are concerned that if approved the new development would impact on the neighbouring Selsdon Wood Nature Reserve.

George Georgiou lives near the proposed development and claims there is a Section 52 order on the land which states it must remain single property land – But it was issued 40 years ago.

He said: “You could argue that it is in perpetuity. I accept that we are 40 years on but the character of of the area hasn’t changed and the nature reserve is the same.

“No-one knows what it going to happen yet but my concern is, if you look at the whole of the Croydon, they seem to be carte blanche concreting everywhere.

“I’ve got no problem at all with developing housing for London and there are a  lot of brownfield sites – but buying someone’s garden which is next to a nature reserve doesn’t seem right.”

He added that in that corner of the nature reserve there are deer as well as TPOs (tree preservation orders) and badger setts.

And this is something volunteer group Friends of Selsdon Wood is concerned about too.

Chair of the group, Heather Govier,  has submitted an objection on behalf of the group to the plans.

It says: “Although the wood is large, the local environmental impact could be substantial. The building of so many houses in that small piece of land, on what was a rough paddock with a pond would impoverish the environment for local wildlife.

“There are several badger setts adjacent to the Vale Border boundary path which would suffer major disturbance.

“The building work would doubtless damage trees and shrubs, many of which have roots that spread widely because of the nature of the subsoil.

“There is also a danger that some of the older and larger trees along the boundary would be cut down by the developers to prevent deep shading of the properties.”

Mr Georgiou has started a petition on Change.org calling on the council not to grant permission to the application. It has gathered nearly 1,000 signatures.

Some of the signatures are from people living elsewhere in the country, but he has also been taking a physical petition round to his neighbours and reckons about 500 signatures are from people in the borough.

An environmental statement from The Oakwood Group states that badger setts nearby will be monitored regularly.

It adds: “With the implementation of ecological mitigation , compensation and enhancement, into the design and landscaping, and careful design to mitigate for any impacts on the adjacent wildlife site, it is considered that the development could result in an enhancement to the biodiversity and ecological value of the site.”

Public consultation on the plans closes on March 8 and a decision is expected to be made by May 14.