Representation by David Larkin
- Date submitted
- 16 June 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I wish to object to this planning application. Narrow-minded thinking is on display here in Cory’s attempt to destroy 11.7% of an established nature reserve which as well as offering recreational and health benefits for local people, is a sanctuary for wildlife including species threatened with UK extinction. This example of rare grazing marsh also is a Local Nature Reserve, a Metropolitan Site of Importance for Nature Conservation and Metropolitan Open Land. Regrettably, it seems Cory is not concerned about such wider issues, only its own vested interests. In a country already one of the most nature-impoverished in the world, it is totally mindless to keep on destroying what rare pieces biodiversity that still exist. Chipping away as this application does at what little is left of our natural environment is death by a thousand cuts. Direct loss to nature will be further aggravated by upheaval noise, light pollution and disturbance both during five years building of the complex and when in operation. Inevitably, the area detrimentally affected will be far greater than what would remain of Crossness Nature Reserve itself. The land offered by Cory in return is not grazing marsh and enhancement cannot compensate for the loss. However, effectively this area is already a useful accompaniment to the Nature Reserve – wildlife does not recognise man-made boundaries.. Simply transferring ownership of a resource that already exists can hardly be regarded as mitigation. According to experts, what amounts here to Direct Air Capture is no ‘silver bullet’ for tackling climate heating. At best it is only ever likely to be a contributing factor. Howard Herzog of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology believes the technology is overhyped citing uncertainties over its future costs and high energy demands. David Keith at the University of Chicago who founded the Canadian Direct Air Capture company Carbon Engineering, says other methods of carbon removal hold at least as much promise – they include boosting the carbon storage capacity of soils. Yes, it is important that Direct Air Capture is exploited, but the site should not be at the expense of one of Bexley’s only four Local Nature Reserves with plants and soils are already capturing carbon albeit more efficiently. Given the fragile state of the UK’s natural environment today, it hard to understand the corporate thinking that has brought this planning application into being. I trust it will be rejected.