Seething Wells:Site Protection



PROTECTION
Seething Wells Filter beds, including the land known as the wharf and the river wall are theoretically no longer under threat of housing development. According to the UDP inspector’s report March 2004 they are now protected as Metropolitan Open Land in their entirety. The filter beds are also an SNCI (Site of Nature conservation Importance) a designation conferred on the filter beds in 1992 by the former London Ecology Unit, irrespective of whether the local authority accepted the designation at the time. The river Thames is designated a Site of Metropolitan Importance throughout its metropolitan length. In addition there is a functioning SASC (Strategic Area of Special Character) to protect strategic views. Offsite and onsite land has SNCI (Site of Nature Conservation Importance) and SMI (Site of Metropolitan Importance) designations make the Filter Beds the most designated section of our river (Inspector at the Core Strategy Hearings September, 2011). Taken together this should mean that the land cannot be built on and that the site is protected for its wildlife value. 

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