Wildlife Circus

Opportunity areas in Kingston   The bloggers will be burning the night oil after each of the Examination in Public (EiP) hearings of the Mayors London Plan. Some of yesterday's session on Opportunity Areas and Regeneration, is expounded below see also Kingston's emerging Local Plan Whilst no one wants to stop genuine homes being provided for our citizens - shelter is a human right - many are concerned about the way this is being undertaken. The inclusion of much of Kingston as 'Opportunity Areas' to deliver housing targets of 30,000, has raised a number of questions- including from our council - who want to see this number halved. The London Tenants Federation as well as many  other organisations  are calling for a halt in the spread of Opportunity Areas. OA's can mean that normal planning rules are suspended and density increases can be up to 300% ABOVE  average new development. They determine that an area can take extraordinary numbers of jobs and ne...

Dear Councillors This is a friendly reminder that legally public bodies have a duty under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 to consider biodiversity in all of their functions. I attach the London Guidance from Natural England and some footnotes as to how this is legally applied. I also attach the Kingston Good Practice Guide, which I imagine most councillors and officers have never seen. I know some of you are concerned about this, as I have met with you; some of you think that there are officers taking account of these statutory obligations (well they are not) and there are others that think that housing targets are more important than biodiversity- but then you have decided what the law is, and that children don’t need access to nature and clean air for good physical and mental health. If areas are unfit for hedgehogs, are they really fit for us; and didn’t we sign up to the London National Park City? Remember that the council -as a public body- also...

Today's radio had details of an unfortunate court case, which included the headline - grabbing news of the naming of a child 'Adolf'. Names carry powerful connotations and can be imbued with deep significance; the couple who named their son after Hitler were convicted for being members of a banned group known as 'National Action' and were sentenced  to prison for between 5 - 6 years. I began thinking of the power of bird names, either because they are inherently beautiful, have evocative songs such as the skylark, or because of their rarity. Lapwing Seething Wells   When we hear 'Peewit' we mean the Lapwing  or the  bird in the photograph - currently one of only six - but from an original flock of 200 regulars only ten years ago, at the Seething Wells filter beds, and now amongst the rarest bird in the borough. Richard Jefferies writing on "Nature Near London," (1888) noted that 2,000 lapwing overwintered on Tolworth Court Farm. I wonder if th...