Dingy skipper - Amy Lewis
Help Save Arena Essex
Essex Wildlife Trust is supporting Buglife's urgent campaign to protect one of Thurrock's most important wildlife sites from destruction.
Where Racing Ended, Wildlife Began
Hidden away in Thurrock between the Mar Dyke Valley and Lakeside, a remarkable transformation has taken place. Where stock cars once roared around the Arena Essex Raceway, nature has quietly reclaimed the land, creating something truly special. This 52-hectare site has become a haven for some of Britain's rarest creatures.
Its unusual history of quarrying, landfill, and motorsports has created a unique patchwork of flower-rich grasslands, sun-baked bare ground, scrub and young woodland. It's a place where nature's creativity shines, and it's now recognised as a Local Wildlife Site.
A Treasure Trove of Rare Wildlife
Arena Essex is buzzing with life. Over 530 species of invertebrates call it home, including the threatened Brown-banded Carder Bee, one of our rarest bumblebees now clinging on in just a handful of sites. You'll find the spectacular Five-banded Weevil-wasp here, the charming Dingy Skipper butterfly, and even the songbird superstar, the Nightingale, whose numbers have plummeted across Essex.
Brown-banded carder bee - Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Dingy skipper - Amy Lewis
Richard Chew
The site also shelters the Endangered Broad-leaved Cudweed, a legally protected wildflower that's desperately rare. In fact, the sheer diversity and rarity of species here has earned Arena Essex recognition as a core site of national and international importance for wildlife.
Why This Site Is Irreplaceable
What makes Arena Essex truly special is its ancient Thames Terrace Grassland, formed on river gravels thousands of years ago. Only tens of hectares of this habitat remain in the entire country. Once it's gone, it's gone forever. You cannot recreate thousands of years of natural history.
The site's complex mix of habitats works like a wildlife buffet, offering everything from bare ground for ground-nesting bees to flower-rich areas for butterflies, all in close proximity. This is what allows so many rare species to complete their lifecycles here.
The Threat
Now this wildlife haven faces destruction. Plans for a massive Google data centre would wipe out over 80% of the site's precious habitats and destroy approximately half of the entire Local Wildlife Site. The irreplaceable Thames Terrace Grassland would be completely lost. Rare species would disappear.
Arena Essex is part of a once-extensive network of wildlife-rich sites across the Thames Estuary, but that network is being dismantled piece by piece through port developments, road schemes and industrial expansion. Each loss makes it harder for wildlife to survive. When we lose sites like Arena Essex, we push these species closer to extinction.
Here's the bitter irony: Google's own sustainability report proudly claims they're "cultivating nature" and "rebuilding nature in the very places it's been paved over." Yet this single development would destroy over 32 acres of existing, irreplaceable wildlife habitat. If Google truly cares about nature, they can find an alternative site.
We've Objected—Now We Need Your Voice
Essex Wildlife Trust has formally objected to this planning application alongside Buglife. As Essex's leading conservation charity, we believe this development would cause irreversible loss of rare habitats and nationally important species. Arena Essex is one of the largest remaining wildlife sites in Thurrock, and we simply cannot afford to lose it.
But we need your help. Buglife has launched a petition calling on Google to search for an alternative site. Over 2,500 people have already signed, but we need many more voices to show that Essex residents care about protecting our wildlife heritage.
It takes less than a minute and could help save a wildlife treasure. You can also share the petition with friends and family on social media, and contact Thurrock Council to express your concern about the application (ref: 25/00573/OUT).
