Wildlife Circus

Disagree? Then challenge me Norbiton has lost 100 of its precious trees In only a couple of years it seems to me Tragically revealed in photography A more accurate record than your bureaucracy Whose FOI’s return ‘Just one lost tree’.   Just look at the sawdust in the cemetery Formerly a regiment of Lombardy’s. A game of numbers played by authorities. Using Orwellian counting systems and legalese. To enable multiple blocks to put warehousees   Cambridge road’s urban forest numbers 183 But unacknowledged in gardens - another 53. Apple, plum, pear, olives and massive cherries. Lime, oak, willow, in total, 28 species.   In Bonner Hill road rumble HGV’s, Removing cubic metres of soil from old factories. Earth and earthworms gone so no hope of new trees. On a total development footprint with accountants to please.   Planning conditions; modern routes to acquiring new trees. Where councils can relinquish responsibility But...

Waterworks meadow where I have had the pleasure of leading bat surveys this year.     Waterworks Meadow forms a key component of the Lee Valley Regional Park; the Waterworks Meadow site is approximately 8 hectares in size. It is not subject to any statutory or non-statutory nature conservation designations. It lies adjacent to part of the Lee Valley Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation (SMINC) including the River Lea, which bounds the site to the south-east and south-west. It is adjacent to - and not to be confused with - the Waterworks Nature Reserve, which forms part of a waterworks complex. The meadow used to be a pitch and putt golf course and then a brief spell as a centre for pony trekking. In an effort to find a profitable use for it the owners have been looking at various options. Earlier this year a licensing application was submitted to Waltham Forest Council for an 8,000 person 'Waterworks Festival' on the meadow.  The Save Lea Marshe...

  Cambridge Road Estate is going through the final consultation stage before a planning application in the Autumn. As it is 7.71 ha it a large-scale application, which will affect the whole borough.  The countless blocks will be up to 13 storeys. Yet it is in an Area of Deficiency as defined by the Mayor, who has actually pledged not to increase the numbers of people living in an AoD (more than 1km from open space) demonstrated by the area coloured purple on the map above. Biodiversity The London Plan includes an important policy (7.19) Biodiversity and Access to Nature, which links to policies and proposals on approaches to strategic planning in the Mayor’s Biodiversity Strategy. Policy 7.19 contains the following statement; The Mayor’s Biodiversity Strategy sets out criteria and procedures for identifying land of importance for London’s biodiversity for protection in LDFs and identifying areas of deficiency in access to nature. Protecting the sites at all levels, ser...