Representation by Louise Hopkins
- Date submitted
- 26 February 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am concerned that, in the planning for the above railway, due care has not been taken to mitigate the effects on wildlife around the Lodway Farm/ Cycle path area. This is a “toad corridor”, vitally important for the life cycle of toads. Metrowest seem to have have put in mitigation measures for wildlife in a number of locations but not as far as I can see in the proposed depot around Lodway Farm and the cyclepath. I wonder if they have just missed out the toads due to an oversight in their environmental surveying and am hopeful that they will allow mitigation measures that will allow the toads to continue their migration over the Breeches, across the entirety of Lodway Farm fields, over the rail track, across the cyclepath and into the breeding pond. If this area is concreted over as the proposal suggests, the toads will suffer greatly. Toads, as a Biodiversity Action Plan priority species, should be protected from adverse affects of development. In 2007, the UK Biodiversity Action Partnership (UKBAP) listed the common toad as a species of conservation concern. In England this means that (under Section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006) all public bodies must have regard for Common Toads (specifically under ‘biodiversity conservation’) when carrying our their functions. Many thanks for your consideration