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Quango relaunches plan to destroy wildlife haven
10 August 1998
Rainham Ratty, the cuddly “Wind in the Willows” water vole being made homeless by heartless English Partnerships will be demanding a meeting with Lord Walker,EP Chair
See Ratty and his FOE and Friends of Rainham Marsh chums
outside English Partnerships' corporate office, 16-18 Old Queen Street SW1H at 10.30 am on Monday 10 August.
A Government quango today relaunches its plan to destroy a large part of London's largest wetland wildlife haven, Rainham Marsh. The new plan has been greeted by a chorus of horror from Friends of the Earth and local campaigners, who call it “new sheep's clothing hiding the same old wolf”, as it still involves the destruction of 90 hectares of Rainham Marsh Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) [1].
Rainham Marsh SSSI is home to water voles, short-eared owls and rare invertebrates.Regeneration agency English Partnerships, in league with Havering Council, previously planned to transform the SSSI into a collection of warehouses, a drive-through restaurant and a petrol station. Today they have sent the Council a revised plan, which now only involves building warehouses. The plan will use an estimated £16 million in public money and has been opposed by the Government's wildlife agency English Nature.
Matt Phillips, wildlife campaigner of Friends of the Earth said: “The good news about this relaunch is that people will once again have the opportunity to object. The bad news is the damage to this nationally important wildlife haven will still be severe. We don't care if English Partnerships and Havering Council want to build another drab warehouse or a tacky drive-through restaurant. This destructive plan must still be stopped.”
Phil Butler of Friends of Rainham Marsh said: “The irony is that Havering could have both wildlife and development. There is ample genuinely derelict land in the vicinity which is not part of the SSSI. Havering could have its development and also boost the wildlife value of Rainham Marsh, to put it at the heart of a strategy to raise the image and profile of East London.”
Friends of the Earth has called on Environment Secretary John Prescott to quash English Partnerships' plan.
[1] Inner Thames Marshes SSSI of which Rainham Marshes is part is by far the largest wetland area in Greater London and is one of the few remaining remnants of the marshes that once fringed the Thames. A significant population of Water voles (Arvicola terrestris) has recently been found on site and it is also visited by highly significant numbers of Teal as well as Short-eared owl, Godwit, Shoveller and redshank. The site is designated under Section 28 of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. It is owned by Havering Borough Council, but it has been much abused in the past by tipping of waste. This in turn has fuelled the misplaced opinion that the site is worthless and can only be improved by built 'development'.
English Partnerships has applied to Havering Borough Council to develop the area with what is understood to be £16m of public money. However, no private sector developer is involved and the application may be illegal(see below). Friends of the Earth wrote to John Prescott about the issue in January, but has still received no satisfactory reply. Friends of Rainham Marsh have produced a report called The Best of Both Worlds (available on request) which shows the SSSI can be protected and development can be brought to the Borough securing both wildlife and regeneration of genuinely derelict land.
English Partnerships was set up in the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 where it is known as the Urban Regeneration Agency. Its prime duty under Section 159 of the Act is the redevelopmentof vacant, unused, under-used, contaminated, derelict, neglected or unsightly land. In the case of Green field sites (like Rainham which is a SSSI), the agency can initiate development, but only if it has already received the'directions' and 'consent' of the Secretary of State (paragraph (3) subsections (a) and (b)). If the Agency has not received these directions and consent (which is understood to be the case at Rainham), then the whole application may be illegal.
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jul 2008
