From time to time (too rarely if I'm honest) we've featured local campaigns aimed at saving important sites that are home to nature and vital green venue for the people who live round them, visit them and care for them. here campaigner, Donna Zimmer, describes the hard work of saving her local wildlife spot, Crayford Marshes. Please read her story - at the end is a link to a campaign action or if you want to cut to the chase here it is but do come back and finish reading the article.
My name is Donna and I’d like to tell you about the special place that we’re trying to save. Crayford Marshes is the last truly wild place left in Bexley (where I live!) that still has the feeling of large open green space and big skies. The Marshes attract walkers, runners, cyclists and naturalists like myself, all enjoying the peace and relaxation that the area has to offer. I try to visit as often as I can all year round, to try to capture with my camera the wonderful variety of wildlife in all seasons...
Crayford Marshes with skylark (top) and corn bunting. All photos supplied by the campaign
In spring and summer I look out for reptiles like the common lizard and, walking along the path, I listen out for the song of the whitethroats, lesser whitethroats and blackcaps as they dive in and out of the vegetation. I’ve also spotted mammals like the red fox, rabbit, weasel and water vole (sadly one of our fastest declining mammals). If you turn right towards the path along the landfill, you can spot skylarks calling and displaying above and around you. You can also look out and listen for corn buntings, whilst a kestrel hovers above and green woodpeckers search the fields for ants’ nests. The landfill is also a favoured feeding and hunting area for the little owl and barn owl and an excellent place to search for migrants (wheatears, yellow wagtails, stonechats and whinchats) in good numbers.
Clockwise from top left - whinchat, stonechat, wheatear, yellow wagtail, with a barn owl in the middle.
In summer, I look out for swallows, swifts and house martins as they zoom over the moat and the threatened fields across the lane, chasing their insect food. Uncommon white-letter hairstreak butterflies occupy the elm hedge then too. In autumn and winter, redwing and fieldfare can be seen as they indulge in the plentiful berries that still surround them.
Every visit is different at the Marshes and it’s this anticipation of what I may observe each time I visit that really makes Crayford Marshes so exciting.
Water vole - one more species under threat in the Crayford Marshes
The Planning Application
Unfortunately the landfill area precious to both our wildlife and ourselves has come under threat. Roxhill Development Ltd have submitted plans to build a rail freight interchange on this site. Not only will it cause damage to the Green Belt and a substantial part of designated Site Of Importance for Nature Conservation, it will reduce habitat available to the remaining populations of certain red-listed birds species in Bexley, notably Skylarks and Corn Bunting. It will destroy 50% of the Crayford agricultural and landfill site of importance for nature conservation (SINC) – shown to be of London – level importance for invertebrate species – and around a quarter of what little is left of the Crayford Marshes as a whole. There are many other arguments against this planning application including flawed sustainability claims, scale, visual intrusion, as well as losing our mental health benefits of quiet, wide, open ‘countryside’ feel that the Crayford Marshes currently provides.
The flawed sustainability claim central to the applicant’s case is that it is a major project of ‘strategic’ importance that outweighs the amount of damage, and that this was the basis upon which the Secretary of State approved a previous version of the scheme, despite it being rejected by Bexley. We believe that ‘strategic ‘ must include helping to meet the goverment’s international treaty commitment to reduce UK resource consumption to sustainable levels by 2020 as well as its carbon emissions target. This application is not part of a coherent co-ordinated plan to do the former, instead it is about aiding the transport of even more goods around the globe, and since the object of government economic policy is in reality to continually increase net resource consumption, then any short term gains in reduced long-range HGV movements and carbon dioxide emissions savings will be outweighed by the net HGV traffic growth predicted by The Department For Transport in the longer term.
When I heard about this proposed planning application across the landfill part of the marshes, I was very concerned. I didn't want to lose our green space or the red-listed Skylark and Corn Bunting that live feed and breed in this area. I knew I had to get involved and try to protect their habitat. I was already lucky to be supporting and working alongside Bexley RSPB group and Bexley Natural Environmental Forum .
SE London & North Kent RSPB Rep, Ralph Todd,had already collected letters of objections to the proposed planning application from the members of Bexley RSPB. I wondered what I could do to gather more support and spread the word. I decided to put together an e-petition, but I needed advice and support with understanding the planning laws . Luckily the Vice Chair of BNEF, Chris Rose was more than happy to support me and with his knowledge we were able to work together to set up the E-Petition. The next stage was to promote it widely so I set up a Friends Of Crayford Marshes page on Facebook and a Twitter account @MarshesCrayford.
Not only is social media a great tool for promoting petitions far and wide it is also an excellent way of getting local people together sharing wildlife observations, photography and news. Walkers, cyclists, runners and local people all use this space, not just wildlife enthusiasts! So it was great to all link everyone together. I could now also share the petition directly with political parties, my MP as well as wildlife charities/organisations and high profile wildlife celebrities. It didn't take long for the E-petition to take off and it currently has over 1300 supporters.
After hearing that The London Wildlife Trust amongst other organisations/ charities had sent sent letters of objections against this planning application, as a keen birder I really wanted the RSPB to send an objection letter so I wrote and asked them to. Unfortunately the RSPB do not have the resources to object to every planning application that effects wildlife, but they did put me in touch with the Regional Conservation Manager of the RSPB Alan Johnson who has been very supportive. Alan visited the site, offered me advice, and wrote a letter of support with our campaign. I knew that with the RSPB on our side our concerns would have to be taken seriously with the Council. I was then able to attach this letter to my own personal objection, copy all of the councillors on the planning committee into the email and send to Bexley Council. It is the councillors that vote and have the power to decide on the evening of the Planning Committee Meeting, whether to allow or refuse the planning application. We are currently waiting to find out when Crayford Marshes will be on the agenda. Until then we will continue to campaign. Please help support to save Crayford Marshes by signing our petition:
And by writing a formal objection to developmentcontrol@bexley.gov.uk outlining your concerns and telling the Council why you value the site using reference 15/02673/OUTEA
Thank you!