Wildlife Circus

    This post is regarding Biodiversity loss and local extinctions in the borough. It was read at  the deputation at the full council meeting 24.4.19 and includes a litany of lost species. Every day I pass this building on Cambridge Road, which reminds me of the house martins that used to nest under the eaves of the previous building  - The Peel Pub. In early years the nests used to be poked out, but at least the birds kept coming. Then they stopped coming. Now they can never return as they have been designed out of the system. The urban gradient in parts of  Kingston has increased beyond the tolerance of many urban species, including house sparrows  - a UK Priority Species, included on the list of Section 41 under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 - due to its massive decline. This Act confers on the council - a legal duty to protect - and makes this species 'material' in any planning application. Kingston's own Good Practice Guide...

Cambridge Road Estate     Correspondents Lyse Doucet and Martha Kearney covering the Israeli elections  on this morning's 'Today' programme,  were surprised as listeners 'Twittered in'  comments  regarding the house sparrows chirruping in the background. It lifted spirits to hear happy chattering, a sound once common in all our gardens. We have lost 12 million house sparrows since the 1970's. Populations continue to be  fragile in some London boroughs, due to the fast pace of development and the amount of  Total Footprint developments council's have been prepared to accept, in order to achieve their housing targets. Some councils have taken their legal obligations more seriously see February's post -house-sparrows in Ilford but as  kingston-enters-anthropocene on many environmental fronts we need some assurances that there won't be any more losses of colonies, such as at the former gasholder site opposite Sainsbury's, and the Cam...

    New developments around the Cambridge Road Estate have not only erased any pre-existing 'nature' but made it virtually impossible for any new colonisation, except perhaps by pigeons. There are borough policies to prevent this happening, but no one seems to know where to find them, yet alone understand them;  our officers seem too embarrassed to implement a 'no net loss of biodiversity' policy, let alone achieve the borough's aspiration of 'Net Gain'. When Natural England attempted to give our planning officers a lunchtime training session - which would have counted towards their continuing professional development (CPD) - no one actually turned up. Key: Ppip common pipistrelle Ppyg soprano pip.   This does not bode well for the redevelopment of the Cambridge Road Estate (CRE). The site is full of wildlife, demonstrated by the bird song in the early Spring mornings. Listen to these recordings on Soundcloud here: Sparrows of Willingham Way . Keep l...