Wildlife Circus

The Appeal has now been validated by the Planning Inspectorate with a start date of 9 July and it appears as a Public Inquiry. Statements and comments may have a deadline but no date as yet for the hearing. see  http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/ViewCase.asp?caseid=2197943&coid=67733

Severed Railings I am informed that agents acting for Hydro are among the readers of this blog. How jolly cordial. So what I was wondering is: how long was it  going to be, before any responsibility was taken for managing the site, as the critical mass of our citizens are duty bound to make sure our own land is in a good state of repair. Not just a state. Presently, an impression is imparted, that the developers couldn't care less, which will be of great interest to the planning inspector at the forthcoming Inquiry, especially if he or she has to hire a machete to undertake a site visit.  Buddleja wig on the small pumping station Previous blogs have reported on our council's wisdom as to how bad it needs to be before enforcement action is taken. The dangerously severed railings above aren't sufficiently bad, so how about..... Our be-buddleja'd 'Building of Townscape Merit'? Ash pushing over the bundary wall Nope. Ok, wel...

Dog days With the temperature soaring to 32 degrees there has been a ' super' emergence of damsel flies from the Filter Beds. Mostly red eyed and common blue damselflies, there are also broad bodied chasers and southern hawker dragonflies over at FB 7. The sheer numbers are incredible and inevitably some are caught by car windshields, as they drift across the Portsmouth Road into gardens, along The Mall and Westfield Road. Last year, several were given as gifts to local cat owners and I ended up with many body parts to identify.  Red eyed damselfly Focus your binoculars over the water and see their hovering flight low over the water's surface, as they make sorties to capture prey or see off rival males. Also look at the sycamore trees growing close to the railings where you might observe pairs mating in the 'wheel' formation

 Another opportunity to view a Thames Water site, which will be managed for wildlife, occurred this weekend in Hackney. This was at the open day at 'Woodberry Wetlands' or East reservoir and our guide was David from the London Wildlife Trust. His opening statement was that 'we want to change peoples attitudes',  we need to engage local people quickly to make sure that they realise, that this is a nature reserve and they cannot bring their gazebos, barbeques and sound systems here'. Nor is it possible to bring dogs. This is an opportunity for local people to have a rare glimpse of a Thames Water operational site in the east end of London. Thames Water are about to hand to the London Wildlife Trust, the annual contract for managing the site and for the first time the reedbeds and grasslands will be cut on a regime that will have maximum wildlife benefit, while complying with the requirements for Reservoir Engineer inspections etc. Health and Safety issues ...

The Planning Appeal has been lodged against the decision by Kingston Council to refuse permission to develop the Filter Beds. http://maps.kingston.gov.uk/isis_main/planning/planning_summary.aspx?strWeekList=Jun-2013&strWeekListType=REC&strSys=APP&strWard=ALL&strWardTxt=All%20Wards&strExclude=REST Surbiton Filter Beds – Grounds of Appeal 1. Introduction 1.1 This appeal is made against the decision of the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames (LBKT) to refuse planning application ref: 11/16502/FUL, which was submitted on behalf of  Hydro Properties Limited for:“Redevelopment of the filter beds to provide a publicly accessible nature reserve, riverside walk, open space, a 239 square metre heritage and education centre, a flood storage cell, and river taxi drop-off point, all to be enabled through the provision of a 92 berth leisure  marina and lock gate, 7 residential launch vessel moorings, 64 residential homes set on a  floati...