Pictures of Braeburn Park progress

Site manager Shaun Marriott has sent us some pictures of early work at this new London Wildlife Trust site just up the road from Crayford railway station, on the south side of the line from Hall Place.

Check out the calendar page for upcoming work-days.

Contact Shaun, London Wildlife Trust Reserves Officer (South) for details of the meeting point, start time of each event and other information: 
smarriott@wildlondon.org.uk
Mob: 07710 194268

Strimming back encroaching Brambles along a footpath. This will have the added benefit of  opening up more basking 'edges' for reptiles.

Strimming back encroaching Brambles along a footpath. This will have the added benefit of opening up more basking ‘edges’ for reptiles.

Volunteers making steps on a steep section of pathway.

Volunteers making steps on a steep section of pathway.

Posted in Braeburn Park, Volunteering | Leave a comment

Natural Heritage Day to explore HLF funding opportunities for small conservation groups in London

Natural Heritage Day

Camley Street Natural Park, 12 Camley Street, London, N1C 4PW Friday 24th October, 10.30am-4.30pm.

The Heritage Lottery Fund would like to increase investment in natural heritage by encouraging applications from a wider range of organisations, including smaller groups developing solutions to the conservation needs of their local areas and reconnecting more people to nature. This event, run in partnership with London Wildlife Trust, is suitable for smaller organisations or community groups, especially those who have not have applied to HLF before.

Through informal activity, presentations and discussion we will focus on key issues for developing ideas into fundable applications.

Programme

Morning (10.30am-12.30pm) The (optional) morning session will involve outdoors activity led by London Wildlife Trust so be prepared to get your hands dirty.

Lunch (12.30-1.15pm) A light lunch will be provided, with the opportunity to chat with other delegates, HLF and London Wildlife Trust staff.

Afternoon (1.15-4.30pm) The afternoon session will include presentations and discussions on how to develop an application for a project.

The programme will cover London’s Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) and most urgent biodiversity needs; recording data for natural heritage projects; engaging volunteers, and working in partnership; with case studies of funded projects.

RSVP Places are limited so please rsvp to Gillian Goode at Heritage Lottery Fund (gilliang@hlf.org.uk) before 19th September if you would like to attend, indicating whether you will attend the whole day or the afternoon session only.

A full programme for the day will be sent to delegates in October.

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/reserves/camley-street-natural-park

http://www.hlf.org.uk/ourproject/projectsbysector/landandnaturalheritage/Pages/index.aspx

RubbishAndTeam280212 Thames21 volunteers with litter and fly-tipping removed from Thames Road Wetland and along the lower Cray.

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Environment Forum proposes positive alternative to Council ‘Growth’ strategy

Bexley Natural Environment Forum has today submitted to the Council a series of proposals for moving decisively towards true sustainability, instead of Bexley’s negative and irrational prospectus of a sustained and never-ending growth in resource consumption and concrete that can only degrade the wider environment further.

The Forum says that Bexley’s pro-‘growth’ document is stuck in a 20th century world view and promotes wholly the wrong direction of travel, with no consideration being given to addressing  water, food or energy limitations and security in a properly environmentally sensitive way, including by significant demand reduction, all matters on which London is vulnerable.

Response author Chris Rose, Vice-chair of the Forum, said “This document says it all about the Council’s actual concerns – or lack of them- cut Bexley’s priorities to a three page summary, and wildlife and the environment disappear, which pretty much tallies with the low priority and subservient status given to these matters in the major strategic planning documents. It obviously doesn’t understand that the economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment and not the other way around. We have written to the Council separately asking how the housing allocations figure agreed in a public consultation, approved by HM Inspectorate and published in the Local Development Framework only two and a half years ago, has jumped fivefold to 22,000 in this new publication. We are also extremely concerned about the pro-bridges bias in the questions, another matter on which the Council has shifted position with no credible explanation”.

BNEF encourages concerned residents to send in comments. The Council needs to feel some heat on this. A copy of BNEF’s submission is here, and may give you ideas of your own:

https://app.box.com/s/241pcv7cqseu8gxwgfak

The deadline for submissions, which should be sent to

spandtteam@bexley.gov.uk

is Friday 5th September.

The original Council offering  is at:

http://www.bexley.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=13726&p=0

BNEF has reminded the Council that the UK Government has signed an international agreement to take steps to achieve or to have implemented plans for sustainable production and consumption and to have kept the impacts of use of natural resources well within safe ecological limits by 2020. In contrast, the Council clearly wishes to help ‘grow’ the country’s resource footprint yet further beyond its existing three planet lifestyle, with severe consequences for future generations and other species.

As if this really mattered ....

As if this really mattered ….

 

Posted in Bexley Council, Planning, Sustainability | Leave a comment

More Harvest Mouse nests at Thames Road Wetland

On a grey afternoon at Thames Road Wetland yesterday (29th August), with only the occasional short period of sunshine, another four Harvest Mouse nests were found in the course of keeping  a key pathway open to access Marsh Sow-thistle planting locations. It is likely that if a proper search was conducted, more could be located. It is hard to believe that nests would have been missed in the past, given the management regime and intimate observation of the locations concerned since 2010 – but perhaps the animals have been present for a year or two at such low levels that the occasional nest was overlooked. It could be that the increasing density of suitable plants, including Common Reed and Sedges (Reedmace appears an unsuitable medium for weaving the nests into), has led to colonisation off the neighbouring  Stanham farm, or from the marshes via the adjacent railway embankment.

The Slade Green to Dartford railway embankment and bridge over Thames Road, adjacent to Thames Road Wetland, provides a potential habitat corridor out to the marshes, and into Kent. (Photo: Chris Rose).

The Slade Green to Dartford railway embankment and bridge over Thames Road, adjacent to Thames Road Wetland, provides a potential habitat corridor out to the marshes, and into Kent. (Photo: Chris Rose).

Things were very quiet on the bird front, summer migrants such as the Reed Warblers now being long gone, but there were about 10 House Martins over the farm for a short while, and the usual south/south-westerly procession of over-flying Carrion Crows towards dusk. A Grey Heron was flushed and vocally expressed its disapproval once airborne.

Banded Demoiselles usually stick to the Cray, but a lone male was seen on the wetland, and a couple of Common Darters were also noted.

The recent rain means a continuing high water table, and three of the temporary pools at the east end of the site were already full of water for the coming autumn and winter. Ground conditions generally appear to have engineered a subtle shift in vegetation patterns in several areas.

The composition of emergent vegetation is still changing, with Common Reed and these Sedges 'on the march'. There is a Harvest Mouse nest a few inches in from the the margin of this patch of Sedge. (Photo: Chris Rose)

The composition of emergent vegetation is still changing, with Common Reed and these Sedges ‘on the march’. There is a Harvest Mouse nest a few inches in from the the margin of this patch of Sedge. (Photo: Chris Rose)

There was a good late show of bright yellow Bird’s-foot Trefoil flowers up by the main road, where the single plant of Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea) was doing well, a far less common plant in the Borough, and at TRW,  than the related Weld (Reseda luteola).

The drier conditions of the flat area by Thames Road favours a different suite of species, including several pea-family plants, such as this Bird's-foot Trefoil.

The drier conditions of the flat area by Thames Road favours a different suite of species, including several pea-family plants, such as this Bird’s-foot Trefoil. (Photo: Chris Rose)

Wild Mignonette (Photo: Chris Rose)

Wild Mignonette at TRW (Photo: Chris Rose)

It was pleasing to see the single plant of the blue-flowered lettuce relative Chicory surviving on the sewer embankment, another rather occasional species in the Borough.

 Wild Chicory (Cichorium intybus), a blue-flowered Dandelion relative, on the sewer pipe embankment. (Photo: Chris Rose)

Wild Chicory (Cichorium intybus), a blue-flowered Dandelion relative, on the sewer pipe embankment. (Photo: Chris Rose)

East of the Wansunt, the pools remain dominated by Greater Reedmace, even though the prevailing wind direction ought to be blowing Common Reed seed this way! (Photo: Chris Rose)

East of the Wansunt, the pools remain dominated by Greater Reedmace, even though the prevailing wind direction ought to be blowing Common Reed seed this way! (Photo: Chris Rose)

 

Posted in Mammals, Thames Road Wetland | Leave a comment

Cray Riverkeeper team deliver 14.5 hours of litter removal and habitat management

Five volunteer Thames21 Riverkeepers spent a total of nine person-hours today (29th August) removing 4 sacks of recyclable rubbish, and 9 sacks of non-recyclable material from the banks of the River Cray along Footpath 106, downstream of Crayford town centre to Barnes Cray Road.

Bob, Carole, Ron and Malcolm setting out the litter for collection by the Council. By piggy-backing on Bexley's scheme for collecting mixed recyclables from flats with no room for separate boxes, the riverkeepers are now able to divert much of the material they pick up from landfill or incineration. (Photo: Chris Rose)

Bob, Carole, Ron and Malcolm setting out the litter for collection by the Council. By piggy-backing on Bexley’s scheme for collecting mixed recyclables from flats that have no room for separate boxes, the Riverkeepers are now able to divert much of the material they pick up away from landfill or incineration. (Photo: Chris Rose)

The  group is currently concentrating on habitat improvement work at Foots Cray Meadows, but scheduled an event on 106 because of the poor state of the river corridor along the footpath behind the properties on this part of Crayford Way.

River Cray Project Officer Michael Heath said “Unfortunately there is a significant minority of people who disrespect the environment and think it acceptable to deposit large numbers of beer cans, plastic bottles, plastic bags and food wrappers  along the river, some of which will fall or blow in and end up in the sea. We have a small but dedicated team giving their time for free to rectify this damage. We are dealing with 8 miles of river so it’s difficult to do everything we’d like to. With more volunteers and less littering we could do much more to improve the river for wildlife, local  residents and visitors, so I’d urge people to get involved.”

Project Officer Michael Heath (centre, with Bob and Ron), says the group could get a lot more good work done if additional volunteers come forward to increase capacity. No particular expertise is needed, and new skills can be learnt 'on the job'.

Project Officer Michael Heath (centre, with Bob and Ron), says the group can get a lot more good work done if additional volunteers come forward to increase capacity. No particular expertise is needed, and new skills can be learnt ‘on the job’. (Photo: Chris Rose)

Cray Riverkeeper and Friends of the Shuttle River clean-ups and habitat improvement events can be found in the calendar on this website.  Michael can be contacted at  michael.heath@thames21.org.uk / 07968 805751 and FoTS at  fots-thames21@hotmail.co.uk

Following the river clean, volunteer Thames Road Wetland site Manager Chris Rose then did a five and a half hour solo session at this Bexley Council-owned area, catching up on vegetation management along key pathways and around Marsh Sow-thistle plants. Four more Harvest Mouse nests were found, taking the total to 7 so far.

Posted in Cray Riverkeepers, Crayford, Foots Cray Meadows, River Cray, Thames Road Wetland | Leave a comment

Crossness reserve reopens as Travellers move on.

Crossness Nature Reserve had to close over the Bank Holiday weekend because of tresspassers. Karen Sutton, Reserve Manager writes on the aftermath.

I am pleased to report that the travellers have now been moved on and access to the Protected Area of the nature reserve has resumed.

I’m afraid, as you will see from the attached photos, that they have fly-tipped and dumped rubbish all over the fields at the east of the site which are owned by Cory Environmental (the people that own the Waste-to-Energy facility at the end of Norman Road).

Part of fly-tipping

 

Cory will be organising a clean-up over the next few days. They also intend, I hope as a quick-fix rather than a permanent measure, to install a load of containers along the length of the boundary to prevent a reoccurrence.

More rubbish

Something needs to be put in place to prevent a return, but I hope that the permanent solution will be less visually intrusive, particularly since this is an area where visitors like to watch ringed plovers, little ringed plovers, skylark etc.

Karen Sutton – Crossness Nature Reserve Manager

Thames Water Crossness Nature Reserve, Crossness Sewage Treatment Works, Belvedere Road, Abbey Wood, London SE2 9AQ Karen.sutton@thameswater.co.uk

 

Posted in Crossness Nature Reserve | Leave a comment

Weather report June 2014

World’s hottest May followed by world’s hottest June.

Latest Prime Meridian newsletter covering weather and climate, globally and locally, for June 2014.

Download the PDF file .

Prime Meridian is published as part the outreach programme of the Ecospheres Project – Earth Campaign. It may be copied and distributed freely by bodies seeking to raise awareness of environmental issues.

 

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Canal clearing in Thamesmead 30th August

An opportunity to help with litter picking around the canals of Thamesmead.

In response to resident consultation in Thamesmead regarding litter in the waterways Brick Box are including canal clearing in their event on August 30th.

The event will take place at The Moorings, Arnott Close, SE28 8BG (nearest postcode) in front of the shops near Titmus Avenue

The Schedule for canal clearing is as follows:
Canal Clearing timings – 

Noon til 5pm – 1st session to start 12 noon, 2nd session to start 2.45

Schedule;

12 -12.15 – Health & Safety briefing and instructions.

There will also be a health and safety board – people can join in after start time – they’ll need to read the info and sign a form.

12.30 – Start

2pm – Break.

 2.45 – Back to work

5pm – Out of the water and clear up

 Volunteers;

Age of volunteers 16 +, under 16s must be accompanied by a parent/guardian

We will be clearing floating litter, picking sunken litter out, clearing duck weed and penny wort. Canal is knee deep. Some can go in the water in waders but most of the work will be from the side of the canal with litter pickers.

 At the same event we will also have, starting at 3pm:

Art: The making of YES Signs to counteract the many NO signs we see around Thamesmead and Wish Lantern decoration. Lanterns will be floated on the canal at sundown approx 8.30pm

The Toast Temple – free toast and chat.

for more information contact Tracey Tomlin
07812576933

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Support the London National Park

An interesting campaign to turn London into a National Park.

A plan that would give the sites of importance for nature in London greater protection. Perhaps that would make Bexley Council take more account of the importance of sites for wildlife before rushing to allow development.

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The Greater London National Park* would be the world’s first urban national park that encompasses an entire city. The park is unique in recognising the value of its urban habitat, celebrating its beauty, wildlife, built environment and cultural heritage.

Today, London covers 1,572 km² and is shared by over 8 million resident people and over 13,000 species of wildlife.

Greater London National Park* Map

The Park is marked by the Thames, Britain’s second longest river, which cuts across the city from west to east. Inside the Park’s boundaries are two Special Protected Areas, three Special Areas of Conservation, two National Nature Reserves, 36 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, 142 formal Local Nature Reserves, 30,000 allotments, 65,000 stands of woodland and an estimated 3.8 million gardens, each with their own unique potential for life to thrive.

The land upon which London is built today has felt the footsteps of our ancestors since prehistoric times. Palaeolithic flint hand axes that could be 100,000 years old have been found in the heart of London. The city itself is nearly 2,000 years old having been founded by the Romans in c. AD 50 as Londinium. Today, London is one of the world’s most famous cities and home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites – one of the highest densities in the world.

A wealth of recreational opportunities are available across the Greater London National Park*. In addition to being able to explore London’s rivers, parks and gardens by bike or on foot, the more adventurous can plan to walk the London LOOP, a 152 mile (245km) long distance footpath that circles around the edge of the entire park.

Looked after by millions of individuals and thousands of organisations, the Greater London National Park* is diverse, dynamic and welcoming and open for you to explore.

More information on the campaign at: http://www.greaterlondonnationalpark.org.uk/

The petition can be signed at: http://www.change.org/p/let-s-make-london-the-world-s-first-national-park-city-glnp

The campaign that the Mayor has already replied to their petition

Update: The Mayor of London has replied to our petition and “commends the campaign organisers for their inventiveness” and says the “idea of a [London] ‘National Park’ is an engaging way of sparking debate” but that “he does not have powers to ‘create’ a new class of urban National Park”. We disagree. Please tell the Mayor he does have the power to make London a National Park City by signing and sharing this petition.

A Greater London National Park has the very potential to improve biodiversity, recreation, health, planning and design across the capital. It would allow for new thinking, solutions and opportunities, with the power to transform how we look after London’s environment, educate our children, design our gardens and much, much more.

London is an incredibly diverse place. 8.3 million humans speaking 300 languages share the city with 13,000 wild species as well as lots of cats and dogs. You may be excused of thinking there was not much space for all these Londoners, but 60% of London is open land and 47% of Greater London is green. As well as the 3,000 parks, 142 local nature reserves, 36 sites of special scientific interest, 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 2 National Nature Reserves within the city’s limits, there are 3.8 million private gardens. For its size, London is one of the very greenest cities in the world – something to celebrate.

Although it may seem counter-intuitive at first, London would make an outstanding National Park for British and foreign visitors to enjoy alike. National Parks are currently funded by central government to conserve and enhance their natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage; and promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of National Parks by the public. There is no reason why this thinking could not be applied to an incredible urban habitat like London as much as a remote and rural one.

This is not a proposal to change planning policy in the capital. The Greater London National Park would not have the planning powers that so many residents in current National Parks dislike.  Nor would it replace the thousands of organisations who are already doing incredible work across the capital.

The Greater London National Park would be a new kind park, a ‘National Park City’ that would aim to conserve London’s awesome ability to be dynamic, innovate and evolve. The Park’s leadership role would be to inform and inspire best practice, help better to co-ordinate and promote London’s biodiversity and recreational opportunities.

 

 

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Please respond to UPCOMING CONSULTATIONS WITH MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS!

There are a number of consultation deadlines looming on Bexley Council  (‘Growth’ strategy, Budget, Flood Review) and key GLA (London Infrastructure plan to 2050) and Transport for London (east London river crossings – yet again) proposals, all of which have major implications for the environment and wildlife in Bexley. See below for details.

It is important to try and influence these because they will be used to justify numerous individual planning decisions and other matters well into the future. So far the Council has not been unduly troubled by criticism of its underlying business-as-usual, ever-more-concrete approach, because people tend to only react once a ‘development’ is proposed for their doorstep, but since not that many people tend to respond to these ‘strategic’ documents, it would start to have an impact if they began  to get even a few tens of critical submissions. One thing is for sure, if those of us who cherish nature, understand we are wholly dependent on it and not the other way around, and who believe it should be protected for its own sake don’t speak up, and don’t become more effective at persuading the Council and Councillors that it should be higher up the agenda and that there will be a political cost, including at elections, of destroying ever more of it, all we will be doing for the rest of our lives is documenting its disappearance!

There’s no need to be nervous about putting in comments – if you’re reading this you know more about the environment than most Councillors, and quite probably more than most of them put together. More importantly, you care.

In order to encourage more submissions on these sorts of things (and on key planning applications) from the pro-conservation community, we will henceforth be flagging them up on the Bexley Wildlife calendar page in red. Bexley Natural Environment Forum (BNEF) will endeavour to respond to all of the consultations/plans posted (unless we indicate otherwise) and we will try to get our responses up some time before the deadline so that other groups and individuals can crib from them, but we are all volunteers and somewhat overloaded with other projects, so we apologise in advance if some of our material only appears ‘just in time’ (i.e. just before the deadline …..) ,

Bexley Council ‘Growth’ strategy – ‘Our emerging vision’.  Deadline 5/9/2014.

Send comments to: spandtteam@bexley.gov.uk

Document at: http://www.bexley.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=13726&p=0

This says it all about the Council’s current concerns (or lack of them). Cut Bexley’s priorities to 3 pages, and wildlife and the environment disappear, which pretty much tallies with the low priority and subservient status given to these matters in the major strategic planning documents. The Council and elected members need to start feeling  some heat on this, and that’s down to us.

Their underlying premise is that ‘growth’ is inevitable and that there is no alternative to an ever increasing population and ever more concrete. No ‘vision’ there then. Set against this absurdly deterministic position is the premise that Bexley can then manage all this ‘in the right way’ to produce wonderful dividends for us all, meanwhile protecting ‘all the things that make Bexley a good place to live and work.’ 22,000 new houses are proposed, 11,000 of which are to be in Belvedere. BNEF has written to the Council asking exactly where. The only mention of the ‘environment’ is the poor one resulting from previous industrial use in certain areas, and there is no mention anywhere of the fate of other species in all this.

Despite BNEF’s best attempts there is not the slightest indication that the small matter of resource limitations (water supply in SE England for a start) might get in the way of the Council’s quasi-religious belief that there is no alternative to the unsustainable and irrational pursuit of guzzling ever more resources ever more quickly, or that this is precisely what will inevitably destroy what is good about the Borough – especially if you are unfortunate enough not to be a human being.

So despite the propaganda that the authors are the best people to save us from any possible minor negative effects of trends they pretend are beyond their control , the reality is that they actively support them.  The only specific  ‘green’ proposal here is to increase ‘air quality’. There is a worrying  reference to  ‘The addressing of barriers to development such as flood risk’ which threatens to take us away from what we should be doing, which is restoring the ecological integrity of local rivers and their floodplains as much as possible.  The questions at the end are, of course, biased as a result – and note the new Thames road bridge on the front.

Unfortunately it will be difficult to change a world-view so heavily ingrained throughout society, but we suggest that you ignore the Council’s questions and instead submit lists of things you do want to see a growth/increase in, such as (yes) a growth in air quality by reducing traffic, growth in the amount of stars you can see at night by turning off street lights from 1-5am, growth in the size of important wildlife sites by allowing adjacent brownfield to return to nature rather than building on it, an increase in the ecological integrity of rivers by digging them out of the concrete (Wansunt) and removing the sluice (Cray), increasing energy security by cutting energy use and setting up a renewable energy company to rent roofs for solar panels with profits going to public coffers, a major  increase in the recycling rate (nearly 50% of stuff is still thrown away here) AND in the local availability of recycled products, an increase in biomass (the amount of plants and animals) by cutting less vegetation and less often …….  and so on.

TfL east London river crossings consultation. Deadline 12/9/2014

https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/roads/river-crossings

Again predicated on the   more-people-travelling-more-miles-more-often-burning-more-fossil-fuels-is-better and = ‘progress’  world view.

Bexley Council was, until recently, quite clearly against any bridge in practice, on the amazingly rational basis that it would inevitably increase traffic and it didn’t want that to happen. Now TfL are talking about two, one just to the east of the Borough landing at Gallion’s Reach, the other coming into Belvedere, and the Council Leader is making positive noises  all of a sudden. Apart from the overall sustainability implications (traffic growth, carbon cost of construction etc.) any bridge funnelling traffic into the north of the Borough threatens pressure for widening Knee Hill (or maybe New Road) and consequently damaging Lesnes Abbey woods.  It wasn’t that long ago that the ELRIC (East London River crossing) scheme, which would have put a road through Oxleas woods, was defeated. Boris Johnson cancelled plans for a Beckton-Thamesmead bridge in 2008. TfL should concentrate more on reducing transport need and encouraging modal shift to public transport, cycling and walking.

Bexley Council budget consultation. Deadline 14/9/2014. 

http://www.bexley.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=17905

The Council is consulting on spend over the next 4 years. Lo and behold there are very large cuts proposed to parks and open spaces management. Meanwhile ever more evidence emerges of the benefits to health and well-being of such places. This presents a challenge to us, as well as an opportunity to get positive changes in vegetation management (sometimes less of it, often better targeted – if we step up to the plate with Friends Groups), but any further staff cuts would make it harder to interface with the Council and enable volunteers to deliver action. We are told that cutting vegetation is cheap, but removing rubbish expensive, The danger is that Friends Groups end up spending even more of their time picking up litter and not much on improving habitat for wildlife.

So where could more money better be saved?  Other Councils (including Dartford and Greenwich) rightly see reducing  the hours of street lighting as a big ticket money saver (not to mention a positive for the environment). Questions from BNEF have revealed that Bexley is only considering switching to LEDs, not reductions in hours of illumination. The Council’s position is that ‘there were some Coroners reports which considered the lack of lighting was a contributory factor in some fatal traffic accidents and there was little experience of switching off lights in urban areas’. …. and …. ‘there are no plans currently in place to start switching off lights in the borough. We are however gathering information on proposals being taken forwards in Kent and other Counties.’ The Council’s position is that even more cuts will be needed in the future, so we should push at this particular door. Lots of useful supporting info here: http://www.britastro.org/dark-skies/

The latest thinking suggests that broad-spectrum LEDS could be more harmful to wildlife than, for example ‘orange’ sodium lights, so we need to press for dark corridors for Bats etc. between key wildlife sites, as well as the adoption of best practice on wildlife-friendly lighting (e.g. amber LEDS) where lighting of any sort is absolutely necessary.

Greater London Authority. London Infrastructure plan to 2050. Deadline 31/10/2014.

https://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/business-economy/vision-and-strategy/infrastructure-plan-2050 

We can’t put it any better than the London Wildlife Trust:

http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/news/2014/08/01/london-infrastructure-plan-must-result-gain-nature-and-wildlife

Please support them and Bexley’s green spaces by adding your voice to these criticisms:

More homes and more green space, but where will the space come from?

‘[The plan] claims that the aspirational targets to build 1.5 million homes and other infrastructure will not encroach upon the Green Belt, which we consider an unlikely ambition given the existing pressures to expand. We also note that there are many other valuable green spaces in London that are vulnerable to being lost to development.

The plan also fails to make clear whether the ambitious targets for new, accessible space will lead to a net gain in the quantity of green space. Will the new spaces simply replace other spaces that will be lost, or will existing, closed spaces be made accessible? The greening of street and roofs will be of benefit, but they are not replacements for the loss of complex wildlife habitats.

Critically the Infrastructure Plan needs to result in a significant net gain for wildlife, if it is to make a London a pleasant place to live, work and play. We will work with others to ensure that this can happen.

London Wildlife Trust urges people to respond to the Infrastructure Plan, and to ensure that nature’s place in the future city is sufficiently protected, respected and enhanced.’

Bexley Council Flood review. This delayed consultation is now expected to happen in October.

There are no details at present, but this will be an opportunity to support ‘soft’ flood alleviation/avoidance measures rather than the concrete approach, to press for less hard surfacing – including action on the number of gardens paved over for car-parking  etc. – and for further river restoration work, such as on the Wansunt through Crayford.

Posted in Light pollution, London Wildlife Trust, Parks, Planning, Rivers | 1 Comment