Representation by Judith Sullivan
- Date submitted
- 24 March 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am concerned about the threat to wildlife on the Swanscombe Peninsula should this planning application be approved because I am really disturbed by the enormous loss of biodiversity in this country. This has happened with increasing pace during my lifetime and we need to start reversing this decline now. The complex arrangement of habitats that have developed at Swanscombe and the extraordinary range of wildlife they support is a really good example of how we can begin to address this decline by letting nature take back land that humans have used in various ways in the past. A theme park is just totally wrong in this location. Giving permission for this to go ahead would indicate that we value a theme park more than our precious wildlife. This would also go against the Government’s promises to support the recovery of nature. The very recent designation of Swanscombe Peninsula as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) has happened because of a recognition that the site is nationally important for invertebrates, breeding birds, plants and geology. As a lifelong birdwatcher, I am particularly impressed by the site’s recognition as important for breeding birds, including 15 red-listed Birds of Conservation Concern and 12 Species of Principal Importance - including Marsh harriers, Bearded tit, Nightingales and Black redstart. But I have in recent years also become much more interested in, and concerned about, other wildlife and plant life. I was delighted to hear recently about the discovery of the Critically Endangered Distinguished jumping spider at Swanscombe, which is found on only one other site in the UK. But I understand that there are over 250 other invertebrate species of conservation concern at Swanscombe. This site should therefore be left undisturbed by any further developments for humans so that the important habitats – grasslands, scrub and wetlands – can continue to support a wide range of wildlife. Destruction of any of the site by granting this planning permission would undermine this wonderful example of the recovery of nature. It is an example of some of the things we could do elsewhere to halt the loss of, and in time help increase, biodiversity in the UK. We must preserve what we have, even if, as in this case it is a site that has in the past been interfered with by humans, and not replace any part of this new SSSI by a theme park.