A concerned resident is considering bringing a legal challenge over a development plan in South West London, which she claims threatens Richmond Park.

Caroline Shah is urgently fundraising for legal advice on taking potential action against Richmond Council's adoption of its Local Plan, which will be used to guide development in the borough over the next 15 years.

Caroline, who lives in Kingston, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) she believes the plan fails to properly consider the impact of future development on Richmond Park, particularly on its status as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) protecting the stag beetle and its habitats.

She said the park will be put under huge pressure from increased visits as a result of development coming forward in neighbouring boroughs, which Richmond's Local Plan must properly take into account.

Caroline said: "It's incredibly busy a lot of the time and there's signs of erosion, trampling, people climbing trees and people cycling through the woods when they shouldn't be, and so if you imagine more and more development coming forward, which is what's happening in Kingston, Wandsworth, Merton, Hounslow – all the boroughs around the park… it's going to affect the park.

"My view is that Richmond Council has not done the process of assessing future harm to Richmond Park properly."

She added: "It's not that you want to stop people going, it's not that you don't want to go, but you don't want so many people or so many visits to be happening that the very nature that is meant to sustain us all is destroyed. How can you have access to nature when you destroy that nature?"

Caroline has foud damage in Richmond Park (Credit: Caroline Shah)

Lib Dem councillor Julia Neden-Watts, Chair of the Environment Committee, said inspectors confirmed the plan was "legally compliant and sound" before the authority formally adopted it on 7 October.

Caroline disagrees with the process by which the council ruled such development will have no likely significant impacts on the park.

She said the authority drew this conclusion by focussing on the habitat of the stag beetle as dead wood, rather than the wider habitats which support the species – including woodland pastures, ancient trees, open grasslands and sunny glades.

She said: "Richmond Park is a habitat with many different ecological features and characteristics in it. It's got grasslands, it's got woodland pastures, it's got scattered ancient trees. Those are the habitats that support the stag beetle, not dead wood."

Caroline believes the council should also have properly considered the impact of the plan on the adult stag beetle, which has different needs to the beetle in egg and larval form, as it spends its time above ground where it is vulnerable to trampling.

She stressed the importance of protecting the park as "one of the most beautiful and rare habitats in London and England – there aren't many places that have got such large areas of grasslands and then incredibly beautiful and large areas of woodland with 700-year-old trees".

Caroline has raised more than £1,500 of her £1,800 target in just 48 hours to seek legal advice on taking her proposed claim forward, which she must submit within days.

She told the LDRS: "The timing is the critical thing here, so I really need people to donate as much as they can afford as quickly as they can because that will enable me to get an opinion and get any support I need to take a claim forward, which I will do on my own.

"I'm prepared to do this, despite how brutal it will be, because nature can't fight for itself, the environment can't fight for itself."

Councillor Neden-Watts said: "The Local Plan has been developed through a thorough and careful process, including extensive public consultation and independent examination. Inspectors have confirmed the plan is legally compliant and sound, endorsing the council's approach to guiding development across the borough."

Caroline's fundraiser can be found on the GoFundMe website.