Representation by Caroline Gregory
- Date submitted
- 16 June 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
This development threatens waterways where Water Voles (Britain’s fastest declining mammal) live and where one of Britain’s rarest bees, the Shrill Carder Bee, is doing well, it is also where passage migrant birds Wheatear, Stonechat and Whinchat are frequently seen. The horses there are crucial for this grazing habitat, so building on the established stable paddocks damages the integrity of the marshes. These stables were built with public money, Crossness Nature Reserve also received substantial government funding via the Managing the Marshes project. The new development will also be abutting the West Paddock where there are breeding Lapwing, an overnight winter Dunlin roost, and the very rare Frog Rush plant. Cory is being misleading in suggesting they will increase the reserve habitat through mitigation / bio-offsetting. Regarding the claim that an ‘extended’ nature reserve will be provided, the reality is that Cory simply plan to make habitat enhancements to land that already exists for nature – the Peabody-owned Norman Road Field, already in place as mitigation for development impacts on the nearby Veridion Business Park. This area is already a haven for wildlife and does not need the removal of nature reserve land nearby for improvements to be made. A bird would only be experiencing a loss of habitat, not that these adjacent fields are now part of a reserve when they fly there! There are alternative locations adjoining the site such as industrial storage areas nearby but they have chosen the nature reserve land.