Tournerbury Woods is one of only 20 places on the whole south east coast of England where mature lowland forest runs all the way down to a natural seashore. These woods also shelter an Iron Age fort (the ‘Tourner Bury’) with its 3m ramparts and 250 year old oaks, though the Bury is not open to the public. The woods and the shoreline are protected by every available form of legal protection outside a national park, including the Chichester Harbour Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and they are home to herons, bats and migrating geese. Yet a commercial venue has been built in the woods without planning consent.
Saving Tournerbury Woods was founded to monitor the legal protections that apply to the woods, to comment on any applications for planning consent and to submit to public consultations affecting the woods. We have taken action when we have had concerns over development and tree preservation, and we have over 100 supporters in the local area. To support our work we have set up this site to direct the reader to public information about Tournerbury Woods and to document our communications with the relevant authorities.
As one of only two large areas of protected woodland on the shores of Chichester Harbour, we wish to see the site conserved and protected for future generations as Parliament decided when it created the SSSI. Although the site is in private ownership and we do not object to any lawful use, we will continue to monitor it and support use that is compatible with its highly protected status.
For those with an interest in preserving the woods or a national interest in protecting SSSIs you can read full details of the latest development proposal on the Havant Planning portal by searching for ‘APP/23/00076’.
You can read our December 2025 Supporters letter on our blog pages to see the details of the grounds on which we objected to the retrospective development proposal.
Further reading on the Development history of the woods:
‘This situation has arisen because the council has allowed multiple applications to be made, it has served an Enforcement notice but not stopped operations at the venue, and it has facilitated ongoing operations through the Non-prosecution Agreement when there is no planning consent.’
Details of a Tree loss investigation we carried out:
‘a large earthwork platform now stands where number of trees stood in 2012, and we show how 3 specific trees around the edge of this platform had their roots covered to a depth of 1.2m by this earthwork and they subsequently died.’
February 2026 update