Representation by Lisa Gray
- Date submitted
- 18 March 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Swanscombe is a diverse range of coastal habitats, grasslands, scrub & wetlands that have developed as a result of the site’s often complex human activity. It is my understanding that Natural England recently declared Swanscombe a SSSI. We have a duty of care to future generations of this country to protect our most important wildlife sites from being lost. As our government has declared, we are in a climate emergency & extinction of species is a huge problem due to both climate change & habitat loss. We are all aware that climate change & habitat loss is already having an impact on the extinction of species both overseas & here in the UK. I'm sure none of us want to explain to our grandchildren that our generation allowed unnecessary projects such as theme parks to destroy important habitats knowing that they were having a detrimental affect on the climate & the diversity of species in the UK. Swanscombe supports over 250 invertebrate species of conservation concern, including the Critically Endangered Distinguished jumping spider (Attulus distinguendus), which is found on only one other site in the UK. Swanscombe is also home to nationally rare & endangered bees, spiders, beetles, wasps & a number of other invertebrates that make this site of national importance. Swanscombe's breeding bird population includes 15 red-listed Birds of Conservation Concern & 12 Species of Principal Importance- including Marsh harriers, Bearded tit, Nightingales and Black redstart. 13 nationally scarce vascular plant species have also been found at Swanscombe, including 5 red-listed species. It also has locally important populations of reptiles, bats, water vole and otter. During the Covid pandemic I, like the majority of the UK population, have valued our time in the natural environment for exercise, health & most importantly our mental wellbeing. I have not heard anyone say they have missed going to a theme park & neither have I heard anyone ever say that a visit to a theme park boosts their heath & wellbeing. In the UK we have sites once occupied by theme parks falling into disrepair eg Camelot which closed in 2012, leaving its sprawling 140-acre site to fall into disrepair. We must recognise that our precious wildlife & natural environment is more valued by the UK population than a theme park. Swanscombe is also more value as natural environment in helping us to fight the climate emergency than a theme park which will pump yet more carbon into the atmosphere both during its construction and during its day to day operation.