Wildlife Circus

       Update Application Refused: at the Planning Committee meeting 11.3.26, the application was presented by planning officer Joel Turner. It was  refused on the basis of   substantial harm to the Metropolitan Open Land due to the scale, height, massing of the proposal . Although councillors recognised that we are in 'tilted balance' and the housing units were much needed, this was the wrong location; it was also out of character, 16 storeys was not in keeping with the character of the area, representing an overdevelopment.  Cllr Davy: We keep being told that this will represent 'no substantial harm to the MoL and I can't help but wonder what would count as substantial harm'. Cllr Sadr-Hashemi (to planning officer):  'it seems that this is not meeting our tall buildings policy, can you speak to that?'  Cllr Giles: The Council's Capacity Assessment (2019) was for 78-166 homes (Call for Sites) and 586 greatly exceeds this number  Cl...

Lake in the Country Park If I had been keeping my blog in 2004-08, I might have written about Hainault Forest, one of my favourite open spaces in the LB of Redbridge. But I wasn't, so I didn't, but will make up for it now that I am revisiting the sites that I surveyed >ten years ago, to see how they have changed. Hainault Forest is one of the remaining sections of the former Forest of Essex.  In a survey made for Henry V111 in 1544 its extent was some 3,000 acres. The forest land was condemned as a waste in 1851, and deforested; the deer were removed, and 92% of the old growth forest cut down. Hornbeam and beech are it's characteristic tree species including pollards of the former. The land became marginal agricultural land and subsequently a significant proportion has been built on. Redbridge manage the country park and the Essex side is managed by the Woodland Trust who are in the business of reforesting .   This link to the website - written by local natural...

During the July Batty Boat Trip  twenty people watched Daubenton's bats emerging from their roost at the Filter Bed site. There doesn't seem to be so many bats this year and they are not in their usual hurry to emerge. Maybe the colony hasn't found the weather conditions so favourable or perhaps they have suffered due to the drainage of their foraging grounds. Studies carried out during the late 1990's and early 2000's found large numbers of Daubenton's bat spent a substantial amount of time foraging over the Filter Beds. For more on Daubenton's bat ecology see:  benton the bat Six species of bat were recorded  in all during the trip: common and soprano pipistrelle, Daubenton's and natterer's bat, noctule and Leisler's bat.