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CONCRETE OBSESSED COUNCIL TURNS ITS NOSE UP AT 'THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS'

18 May 1998

Copies of The Best of Both Worlds proposal are available free to residents of Havering by calling 020 7566 1678.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] 'The Best of Both Worlds' proposal was published on 27 April 1998 by Friends of Rainham Marsh (FORM) with the support of 13 other community and environment groups.The proposal described as 'the only positive idea for the area to emerge in over twenty years'.

The proposal showed how the 16 million currently earmarked to destroy Rainham Marsh could be used to gain both a business park on derelict land next to Rainham Marsh andto establish a Rainham Gateway Park as a 'natural flagship' development with a top class visitor centre on the Marsh itself.

[2] English Partnerships, the Government's own regeneration agency, supported by the local council (London Borough of Havering) have submitted a planning application(No.P0050.97 Development at Rainham Marsh) to permanently destroy 230 acres of Rainham Marsh Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The plan is to build a petrol station, drive-through restaurant and warehousing.

Rainham Marsh is London's largest and best wildlife site - a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which is home to significant populations of birds, mammals and plant life,including recently protected species such as the Water Vole. The SSSI consists mainly of Grazing Marsh which itself is a declining habitat (3/4rs of grazing marsh in the London area has been destroyed in the last 60 years).

For further details of this and other SSSIs that have been damaged or are under threat, visit Friends of the Earth's Wildplaces! Website.

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