Representation by Maria Dorman
- Date submitted
- 30 March 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I love the fact that Swanscombe Peninsula is a unique place that has developed from an area that saw so much industrialisation. It’s home for more conservation-concern species (including Red-listed) than anywhere else in the UK. With Natural England’s recommendation that the area be declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest, I would hope that the Distinguished Jumping Spider (critically endangered and found on only one other site in UK) and many other species of invertebrates might have a safe and protected environment. There are so many conservation-concern birds, and scarce plants, and various small animals. I fear that the damage done to them from the London Resort will be immeasurable and irreversible, despite the plan to leave three areas of marshland for them. The influx of people, with the noise, refuse and general disturbance, will undoubtedly have a negative impact. We are just beginning to realise the impact we are having on the planet, our environment and the multitude of flora and fauna with whom we share it. I cannot see how this theme park is compatible with that approach. I moved to Swanscombe at the age of 4 and spent all my school years there; my first job at 18 was for APCM at the Northfleet Cement Works. Growing up, I would go for long walks with my Mum to both the marshes and Swanscombe Woods (now largely gone). It breaks my heart to think the that area she shared with me, with its wildness and open space, the wild flowers and the birds, might be largely gone before my grandchildren have a chance to see and enjoy it. The marshes on the peninsula remain an accessible open and green space for those living locally in what is an increasingly urban environment. They provide somewhere to go, away from all the buildings and traffic, and remind us how important our well-being is. We need open green spaces, and our local wildlife needs somewhere safe to live. Swanscombe Peninsula is a vital green space, sitting alongside a densely populated area of Kent, the county known as ‘The Garden of England’. Please don’t pave over the garden and destroy the habitat reclaimed so successfully by wildlife. Please don’t do something which might lead to the loss of another species such as the distinguished jumping spider – like the dodo and the moa, they don’t come back once they are gone.