Representation by Kevin Michael Johncock
- Date submitted
- 26 March 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
1.I lived in Swanscombe entirely during the first 23 years of my life. At that time Swanscombe had two main natural amenities, the magnificent woods immediately to the south and the marshes on the peninsula to the north. Sadly, the woods have been totally destroyed to make way for development. They were well known for a wide range of butterfly species and mammals. The marshes were primarily known for its birldlife and unusual flowers. It would be an environmental diasaster, having lost the woodland, if the marshes were also to be lost to new development in the form of an amusement park. I will expand upon my experiences of the marshes both as a child and as an adult and subsequent visits since moving to nearby Gravesend. 2, I also outline that I will give details of the immense pleasure that being in the natural world can bring and how the wide range of species on the peninsula can assist well being in people. 3. I will examine and refute the claim by the applicant's CEO that the proposed development can somehow result in a "net gain" for biodiversity, given that it has been accepted as having one of the most important densities of species anywhere in England within its various open mosaic habitats. How would this be possible? 4. I will question whether this application should ever have been selected to be a NSIP, being unlike other projects accepted as such. 5. Swansconbe Peninsula has long been recognised as a site where rare birds can be found. The well known broadcaster and ornithologist Bill Oddie, writing in his Little Black Bird Book published in 1980, included it in one of the few essential places to visit in the whole of England in a dream birdwatching weekend. I will give further details when required.