Planning Application Postponement


The hearing of Planning Application 11/16502/FUL Surbiton Filter Bed Site has been postponed to an unknown date. Kingston Council cannot determine the application without all the relevant survey information. If they determined an application, which did not fully assess the bat interest, the council could be in breach of the law. The consultants retained by the council have advised (as have Natural England, the Bat group etc) that the survey information is incomplete. This is due to the developers:
a. completing only 2 surveys per year (dawn and dusk count as one); and that
b. surveys were undertaken when the filter beds were not ‘in their normal state’.

The applicant must demonstrate to a high degree of certainty that the development will not result in acts which could be an offence under the Habitats Regulations. This has not been done.

 In order for surveys to proceed, the water in the Filter Beds must be reinstated (naturally). Members of the Bat Group have asked for site access during surveys.


The following is the minimum to be expected regarding bat surveys during this coming season:
At least 3 evening bat surveys across the recording season (June, July, August) during good weather conditions in line with Bat Conservation Trust Guidelines;
Emergence and activity surveys should concentrate on surveying for all bat species at all the structures on the Filter Bed site (Chelsea Tunnel, deep wells, small pumping station, pill box, intakes etc) and not repeat what is already known (i.e the Daubenton’s bat roosts on the external wall) ;
Surveys should be undertaken when the water in the Filter Beds is at optimal levels (they should not be drained again this year as this destroys the Site of Nature Conservation Importance, SNCI);
The site is the only known hibernaculum in this borough and its suitability as a hibernacula post-development should be addressed and mitigation for its loss should be included in the report.
It would be  expected that bird, amphibian and reptile and botanical surveys would continue. During our walks last year, several plant species not recorded during the surveys were noted as well as others on the SNCI citation (only updated 6 years ago) so continued monitoring of vegetation changes is desirable as some of these plants are rare in London.
Reporting must evaluate the habitat in context and adequately mitigate for loss of features
The  previous Thames Water application followed the same path. When the appropriate survey information was eventually supplied TW ended up submitting a much reduced scheme. We must therefore test their assertions on all the surveys presented, including the archaeological.

For example the Chelsea and Lambeth tunnels are protected, no one disputes this. But can someone explain why the system that protects them (i.e that they fall within the curtilage of a listed building) doesn’t protect the main intake which traverses the small pumping station and in turn connects to the listed Nuffield building. On-site Buildings and Structures see also underneath Lambeth's pumping station

Comments

Post a Comment

Please share your thoughts

Most viewed

Heritage Trees part 2: street trees.

Image
  Oaks and maples Cambridge Gardens 2019   Street trees can often be the most beautiful objects in our streets. They are important to their communities as well as having environmental benefits. They are a living history in our landscape and can have particular connections. They may be fragments of a previous landscape incorporated into a modern street scene, such as the oaks at Cambridge Gardens once  part of the Duke of Cambridge's estate.  A great read with information on how to research street trees is a  History of Street Trees by Dr. M. Johnston.  London plane trees CRE 1976 Beech tree, Chesterton Terrace 1976 Studies show that the difference in local tree cover can reflect the various socio-economic groups. In Victorian times middle class areas were planted with many street trees or had higher quality front gardens than working class districts; now referred to as 'green equity'. It can be demonstrated by looking at old photos of the seven roads that were
Read more

Fishing the Hogsmill

Image
Fly-fishing the Hogsmill   It is interesting to see the river from a different perspective: the Hogsmill is popular with anglers at this time of year; although it is unusual to see someone fly- fishing. A chub has just been caught on bread and it looks a good size. Trout are sometimes seen in the Hogsmill and can sit in the weir notch by the school. Our own Richard Jefferies in his book 'Nature Near London'  remarked on the Hogsmill trout as far up as Tolworth Hall Bridge (now the A240). chub    This fish was carefully unhooked and orientated in the swim where it soon finds it way - probably to the next father and son - sitting further upstream. These anglers have caught the 'ghost' koi within the last two weeks and appear to be the second successful pair to catch the pond-escapee in the last few days. Ghost koi are a British invention. They were produced by accident in the early 80’s when a farmer allowed a mirror carp and a koi to spawn together. The offspring
Read more

Seething Wells: they've done it again

Image
The last day of May, I went to see if I could find the black redstart that had been widely reported, no luck but it will turn up again on one of the old buildings. The lush vegetation was looking beautiful between the Filter Beds at Seething Wells. I made a note of the breeding birds: goldfinches twinkling away, blue tits gathering food, sand martins flying over the FB's (only two this year unfortunately) moorhens and some scruffy little coot chicks entangled in the algal blooms.   Proud parents were showing off their four Canada chicks; they can cover a lot of ground in a short space of time they were soon feeding on water pepper and bistort gleaned from  the ziggerat-sided basins. A song thrush sang from the wharf alongside greenfinches as well as the seasonal chiff chaff; although this year all numbers are down, reflecting not only the topsy-turvy Spring but also the continued tumble in insect numbers (even seed eating birds are dependent on insects to feed their young).
Read more