Representation by Ralph Todd
- Date submitted
- 22 March 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am registering my objection to the proposed London Resort Theme Park on the Swanscombe Peninsular from the standpoint of a passionate wildlife enthusiast who has spent much of my life (over 45 years) volunteering to help protect the wildlife of our County. Through the medium of talks and leading walks I have also tried to enthuse others in the hope they will be inspired to protect what remains of our much under threat natural world. I have enjoyed many visits to Swanscombe marshes over the years as it holds a vast variety of wildlife, not just the birds that we can readily see (15 red-listed of Conservation Concern) but also a wide variety of invertebrates (250 species of conservation concern), plants (13 nationally scarce vascular plants) many of these totally dependent on the mixed and open mosaic habitats. So important is the site for wildlife it has recently been notified as a SSSI. At a time when, Covid aside, the news agenda was filling up with the negative effects of climate change and the catastrophic loss of species in the UK (as well as worldwide) I find it unbelievable that this proposal has been allowed to see the light of day. Very large sums of money (much of it tax payers money) and resources are being invested by NGO’s/Agencies in nearby sites. The RSPB are managing nearby sites – Shorne/Cliffe Marshes, South Essex Marshes and Rainham Marshes, the PLA are investing in West Thurrock Marshes (literally across the river from Swanscombe Peninsular), Essex Wildlife Trust the Thurrock Thameside Nature Discovery Park all in an attempt to alleviate some of the major losses to habitats and species caused by human interventions. Some of those interventions might be considered unavoidable (housing, infrastructure) but to see such an important wildlife site, one that should be interconnected with those other remaining Thames marshes wildlife havens destroyed for a profit making theme park is an absolute disgrace. The Lawton Report, 2010, Making Space for Nature urged “more, bigger, better”, the Swanscombe Peninsular is an integral part of the Thames Marshes jigsaw. The Swanscombe Peninsular is just not the right place for a theme park; it flies in the face of the Lawton recommendations. Please don’t be fooled by the Developers/Applicants attempts to persuade you that Biodiversity Net Gain and their proposals for “improvement” are the answer, centuries, decades of evolution within the soils that harbour the invertebrates that enable to plant growth and the birds and other wildlife that thrive on the Peninsular just cannot be replaced by the ideology of ecologists who really don’t know the site as well as those who have seen fit to designate it as an SSSI. Please do not allow this application to be granted.