Developers appear to have given up getting planning permission to build on woodland off Trendlewood at Nailsea and have put the half acre plot up for auction with a guide price less than it sold for 10 years ago.

Hollis Morgan hope to sell the land as Lot Number 25 with a guide price of £10,000+ on Wednesday, July 18, at an auction at All Saints Church, Pembroke Road, Clifton.

The sale will begin promptly at 7pm.

The blurb says ‘a truly unique opportunity to acquire a parcel of land approximately 0.5 acres with road frontage and mature copse to the rear’ which it understands the has been designated as Local Green Space.

It adds ‘a unique opportunity to purchase a miniature woodland in this sought after residential location’ and warns previous planning applications on the green space have failed.

Property developer Vince Nguyen paid £36,500 for the small copse on behalf of his Rooksbridge based company Land Promotions (Group) Ltd in July 2011.

But his controversial plan to build two upmarket homes at Nowhere Lane provoked a huge outcry from neighbours, environmentalists and Nailsea town councillors.

Nailsea People is led to believe the land was offered once in the intervening time but withdrawn before the public were given the opportunity to bid as ‘sold prior to auction’.

The seller in the current auction pack is listed as Steven John Dukes, of Marsh House, Marsh Street, Bristol, who on the land registry paid £30,000 in September 2013.

The site forms part of a bridle path to East End House and the woodland is home to a variety of wildlife including badgers, owls and pipistrelle bats and features around 60 trees, including oak and ash, which are protected by preservation orders.

North Somerset Council refused permission saying the site plays an important role in the character and amenity of the area and the land retains an attractive landscaped appearance and includes a number of protected trees.

In its letter of refusal it said: “In terms of urban design it is fundamental in providing a visual break between the surrounding housing developments. This in turn contributes positively to the visual character and amenity of the area, which is particularly important given the prominence of the site adjacent to the main distributor road at Trendlewood Way and well used bridlepath at Nowhere Lane. The development of this valuable area of open space would have a detrimental effect on the visual character of the area, on adjoining trees subject to TPOs through pressure to reduce canopy spread to increase daylight to the proposed dwellings, and would have an adverse impact on land which is of local importance as a habitat for wildlife.”

Nowhere Woods is now a 5.4-hectare community park and managed by a team of conservationists.

The name Trendlewood appears to mean ‘round wood’ and the name Nowhere Wood is derived from a small hamlet linked to the village by a footpath, Nowhere Lane that still runs through the wood.

Until about a 100 years ago the wood contained several Pennant Sandstone quarries and it would have been a very noisy and active scene.