On Friday afternoon we received the wonderful news that the Government department in charge of housing have announced they will step in on Lodge Hill and that the development will go through a full public inquiry. Martin Harper, our Conservation Director, gives the full story in his blog: The battle of Lodge Hill (part 8) - good news to end your week.

We’ve been fighting for Lodge Hill since 2012 when we first found out how important it was to the UK’s remaining breeding nightingales, and your support along the way has been invaluable. Huge thanks to the 12,400 of you who sent personal emails to the Ministers making this decision. You successfully helped to convince them that the threat to Lodge Hill really is of national concern.

But, a rather obvious point is that the battle is not over. We still have to win at public inquiry.

Your original letters to Medway Council matter more than ever now, as along with all the other evidence that will be examined at the public inquiry, so will any objections to the development, and many of you have raised your concerns over the past two years. We hope and expect that through the Inquiry the development on this protected site will be rejected, securing the future of Lodge Hill.

 

Martin often refers to our mantra of ‘stop the rot’, ‘protect the best’ and ‘restore the rest’. Lodge Hill is definitely an example of ‘protect the best’, but we’re also calling for something that would do all three.

As we approach the election we're asking all the political parties to recognise how much we need nature and to put it at the heart of decision-making, for our own mental and physical health, and the health of our economy. Together with the Wildlife Trusts and with the support of a growing number of environment, outdoor recreation and health organisations, we’re calling on them to commit to a new Nature and Wellbeing Act to bring about the recovery of nature within a generation.

You can find out more about our Act for Nature campaign at rspb.org.uk/ActforNature and, if you haven’t done so already, please join us and ask your MP if their Party will Act for Nature by committing to a Nature and Wellbeing Act in their election manifesto.

  • Good news on the face of it but, I hate to be negative, but living near Swindon, where every planning application gets opposed by the Borough Council and Wiltshire Council so it gets called in for review and then approved regardless of the arguments, local opinion and local wildlife. I wouldn't count on anything productive coming out of it.

    Ridgeway Farm is our latest abomination: they destroyed a load of Grasshopper Warbler habitat to build rows of little boxes that Swindon certainly doesn't need - and now they plan to destroy a load more habitat to build a "northern relief road" as the infrastructure cannot cope with the massive expansion.  We lost a load of good nightingale habitat at Lower Mill Farm in recent years, so they could build holiday homes.