Edging through queues of traffic on my cycle ride in to the RSPB’s Westminster office this week, my mind went over a statement I’d heard on the radio that we are not a crowded island. Living in densely populated London you can quickly forget that urban living is not the norm.
I am used to shops being open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so I find it “quaint” when I go home to the Welsh borders and stumble across towns with half-day closing or their windows dark and doors locked on a Sunday. It’s what I grew-up with, but it is no longer my “normal”.
Yes, we do have vast tracts of land that are not built upon, as that man on the radio had stated. Yes, I do value those large tracts of land and yes I do realise we are in desperate need for more housing and infrastructure. What we need is some oversight. Urban areas tend to be the centres of commerce and rural areas supply the resources that run that commerce. Both rely on nature and on each other to enjoy smooth running.
In the High Court, a judge has refused leave for the RSPB to appeal his decision allowing expansion of Lydd Airport (also known as London Ashford Airport at Lydd). This is deeply disappointing to the RSPB and comes after a long and complex debate. The RSPB is a determined organisation and we’re considering what we can do next to best safeguard the site and all that it supports.
Kent is known as the "Garden of England", and like gardens around the country, it’s being whittled away by a bit of fashionable decking here, a bit of hard-standing for a car there and an opportunity to make money over there by building a one-bed flat over the veg patch and that old shed. Pretty soon, all that’s left of this mythical garden is an overshadowed flower bed and some window boxes.
Kent cannot be allowed to go this way. The airport at Lydd will see a runway extension of almost 300 metres, allowing flights to increase to carry not the current limit of 200,000 passengers a year, but 500,000. All of this next to one of the UK’s most treasured natural sites; Dungeness. It is a special place for many reasons, some sentimental but many more scientific, biological, social, geograhphic and yes, even global. It is officially the UK’s only desert. It’s also fragile and has vast effort heaped upon it to ensure visitors can rely on its raw beauty and otherworldliness being forever accessible. It’s a landscape to cherish with a fistful of UK and European designations that are supposed to protect it from harm.
North of Dungeness is another “protected” site in danger of being whittled away. Lodge Hill is a Ministry of Defence site with proposals to build 5,000 homes on it. This largely un-touched land has lain securely vacant for use by the military and its undisturbed nature is perfect for nightingales, so the UK Government listed it as a Site of Special Scientific Importance [SSSI]; the only one for nightingales in the UK.
We are losing our wildlife in the UK. Research shows that 60% is vanishing. There are growing national divides in wildlife, wealth and resources. Kent’s orchards, fields and other special places need more space. Other areas of the UK have space and resources but lack development. Careful garden planning creates resilient spaces for people and homes for nature. That’s a vision worth pursuing.