Wildlife Circus

                                            Air raid shelter Hillcroft Dear Reader please fell free to use any or all of the objection below, you only have until tonight to object. This is part of a series of 4 posts. Dear Sir or Madam Objection to Hillcroft redevelopment 22/000607 I object to this as being environmentally destructive and the mitigation is derisory. The ecological work is disjointed and difficult to follow. All the features found appear to be destroyed. These are the ecological features to which the mitigation hierarchy should be applied starting with AVOID as per the National Planning Policy Framework. There is no logic to ‘amenity’ grass containing so many species and there are swathes of bluebells which cannot be ignored. The evaluations are flawed, the...

Manor park pond Last January I posted on Manor Park recreation ground, featuring the pond, which was then - full. I thought it would be interesting to return to see the condition of the site, particularly as the local Friends group had convened a well-attended task, planting 2,000 bluebells see https://www.environmenttrust.co.uk/blog/planting-bluebells Usually, I visit whenever I need courage to go to my dentist, which is just opposite the main entrance. The recreation ground is on old agricultural fields, according to tithe maps, and  has remnants of ancient hedgerows. Hence its designation as a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation. Although the pond was dry - hopefully it will fill up before spawning time - the woodland copse was looking splendid. Not a scrap of litter to be seen and dead hedging - or wind-rows - had been created from the arisings of  coppicing; these had been placed along the path. Unlike the ivy - dominated plantations, there ...