Wildlife Circus

So the Kingston Society are supporting the  planning application for King George's Gate (the Tesco's site at Tolworth) which has now been submitted (15/10074) even though it falls very short of the requirements of the borough's Local Development Framework (LDF), not least due to the low number of affordable units (90 out of 705). Tesco planning app But the whole ecological assessment is based on a false premise i.e that the nearest statutory designated sites for nature conservation importance are 800 metres away, when in fact they are less than 200 metres. This is not the fault of the consultants acting for Tesco, who have in good faith, obtained information on locally protected sites from the London Biological Records Centre (Greenspace Information for Greater London GiGL). However when Tolworth Court Farm Fields and The Tolworth Moated Manor sites were notified as LNR's (the latter approved in 2008  Moated Manor Council Decision  the council didn't bother...

I hope you won’t mind my replying to your letter of today regarding the Seething Wells Filter Beds via my blog. It gives the advantage that you can respond via the comments box should you wish. Having read with interest your recent correspondence to the press, including todays more measured letter, I would like to respond as one of those accused of ‘hysterical tirade’ and as a fellow member of the Kingston Society. I was also one of those that spent a few of the many volunteer hours working at the London Wetland Centre when the original planting failed and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) had to put right. I know that we have corresponded previously about the ecology of the Filter Beds site, which is why I was disappointed that your letter did not give weight to any of this information. All of our local and regional organisations with an ecological remit, oppose the Hydro scheme on the grounds that it will damage its inherent features and contribute towards th...