Representation by Rob Harvey
- Date submitted
- 14 February 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I have grave concerns about the creation of work depots in Pill and Ham Green re the Metrowest reinstatement of the Portishead to Bristol rail line. Though the presence of toads, newts and reptiles at both the Lodway Farm and Ham Green depot sites has been confirmed in the literature; no reference has been made to this in the proposals re access and laying down hard standing over the bulk of Lodway Farm and also re access at the Ham Green depot site. Both sites are right in the middle of amphibian migration routes, both populations of significant size, particularly the population that migrates across the Lodway Farm site and over the old railway to access the breeding pond (estimates between 1500 and circa 5000 individual toads - the bulk of which cross Lodway farm). Surely some mitigation efforts should be put in place to protect this population, maybe even look at alternative compound sites and access points, both during the construction process and in the future, once the rail line has been completed.