Naturalists hope that creating a new pond, orchard and changing a riverbank will help encourage wildlife.
Mans Brook near Ifield is to be widened and new ponds built to the north of a bridge over river on what is now a grass field.
An island refuge for birds will be put in the middle of one of the ponds, and trees planted to create a new copse and an orchard.
Aspect Land Management Ltd has applied to Horsham District Council to make the changes to the land, which lies north of Prestwood Lane.
It says while the public don’t currently have access to it, it hopes that once complete, it can be open to visits from schools and community groups.
The planning application says: “This project aims to retore the site to a more naturalistic appearance, increasing scrub, open water habitat and tree cover, breaking up the more open, uniform grassland habitat which currently dominates the site.
“Woodland planting will also help to increase habitat variety on-site, while buffering existing woodland habitat from the effects of climate change and replacing lost tree cover where ash dieback has impacted existing woodland.
“While habitat is being used as a proxy for biodiversity, the main objective will be to increase the overall biodiversity of the site, catering for as wide a range of species as possible by providing a range of locally suitable habitats, in good condition, to encourage their presence on the site.
“Specific aims around enhancement of the grassland are to increase the distinctiveness and improve the condition of most of this broad habitat type on the land.
“Changes to grazing intensity, nutrient management and cutting timings will look to improve the species composition of the grassland and density of indicator species to achieve higher distinctiveness and condition.
“Management will be adaptive to the responses of the grassland to changes in management, as well as seasonal changes annually.
“Initial habitat objectives are based on baseline habitats observed, as well as soil data, to help identify the feasibility of achieving higher distinctiveness habitats within 30 years.
“Creation of new woodland will also help with the long-term health of the adjacent woodland offsite, expanding the broad habitat type, as well as enhancing the riparian [wetland] habitat adjacent to the Mans Brook.
“It will be managed to achieve moderate condition over the 30 year management plan, to have a varied structure and habitat niches. Scrub creation aims to introduce a ‘new’ broad habitat type to the site, as existing scrub is very minimal and largely takes the form of bramble scrub.
“As with the woodland, this habitat will be managed to achieve varied vertical and age structure with areas of open habitat to create a range of habitat niches.
“It will also create an additional broad habitat on-site for a broader range of species, and will buffer woodland in many places, reducing the edge effect between the woodland and adjacent grassland.
“Ponds will be created in areas of open habitat, and adjacent to the watercourse. This will provide a new habitat niche on the site, and creation early in the plan will be followed by long term management of the habitat type to retain the unshaded edges of the in-field ponds.
“Traditional orchard will be created to increase tree cover across the landscape and introduce a parkland style habitat across the Site, benefiting a range of species through the varied habitat niches within this habitat type.
“Trees will be managed for conservation rather than productivity, encouraging veteran features through pruning regimes. Sward management beneath the fruit trees will match that of the neighbouring grassland to increase overall botanical biodiversity.
“Individual tree planting will again be used to increase the tree cover and break up the landscape which would otherwise be large open grass fields.
“While likely not to reach mature size within the lifetime of the project, they will be managed to eventually achieve mature and eventually veteran and ancient status, aiding with the replacement of dying veteran and ancient trees within the wider landscape.
“Management of the watercourse will aim to raise the watercourse bed to reduce channel depth and improve connectivity with the floodplain, allowing for more natural flooding events and enhancement of the riparian zone.
“Creation of side channels and ponds within the bank top area will similarly benefit the overall condition of the habitat and its function as a watercourse.”
