7 July (Part 1) - Bee is for Bankrupt Bexley
On
April 1st I
joined fifty plus wildlife enthusiasts at the Crossness Nature Reserve which is under threat
by a Planning Application for a data centre to be built there. Given Bexley
Council’s lack of interest in the preservation of green spaces I feared the
worst. Sure enough, the application was recommended for acceptance.
The Nature Reserve is home to many rare species. The Bumble Bee shown here
is the rarest in the country and photographed on the Reserve just a week ago.
The planning application is to be discussed at this evening’s planning meeting. I
don’t usually go to planning meetings but I am going to make an exception for this one.
If nothing else the faces of those Councillors who vote
for further destruction of our green spaces deserve to be shown here.
The conservationists say that the applicant’s survey on breeding birds was
carried out before the breeding season was fully underway and it claims that as
the rare species under threat are few in number, they are not worth preserving.
What sort of logic is that? There are only three sites in Bexley supporting breeding skylarks. Two have
current planning applications aimed at their destruction.
More detail of the objections may be found on
the Bexley Wildlife website and there is a
petition too.