England’s Rainforest Given Reprise - Government Agencies Plan Could Satisfy All Parties:
Press release - 23 January 2004
The wildlife habitat at Northwick Road, described as “a little brownfield rainforest” by English Nature officer Dr. Chris Gibson, was threatened with destruction in 2002 when the Government’s East of England Development Agency proposed replacing the irreplaceable wildlife with a business park.
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| © Roger Taylor |
Now new planning proposals submitted by EEDA offer the potential for a win-win-win-win solution. If the new plans are implemented in full wildlife, the environment, people and businesses will all benefit.
Germaine Greer sums up feelings about the site’s wildlife importance:-
"Our most important heritage is not manmade. It is the treasure house that we call biodiversity. The 'improvement' of grassland and intensive agriculture have greatly reduced biodiversity all over England. Threatened species have found havens in only neglected sites, like the abandoned industrial area around Northwick Road, Canvey Island, which is now one of the richest habitats in Britain. We have thousands of business parks, but we have only one Canvey Island. If we destroy the Northwick Road system, we will never find another like it."
Professor Germaine Greer
The new plans commit to save the richest 60% of the site as a nature reserve and promise to deliver an amazing and ground breaking business park that will fully integrate the needs of brownfield wildlife. The business park will be built to rigorous sustainable construction principles, and will include ‘brown roofs’, rough grassland, bee banks and minimal tarmac cover.
“The East of England is currently failing the environment, but is delivering for businesses. Buglife cautiously welcomes this plan as a step towards bringing the environment up to standard. This is an opportunity to provide a shining example of how humans can work in harmony with their environment, and we hope, very much, that short term financial temptations do not result in ‘mission drift’ and damage to wildlife” Matt Shardlow, Buglife Conservation Director.
It is Buglife’s aspiration that Northwick Road will become an SSSI and a fabulous nature reserve for the people to use and work in, with sufficient resources committed to secure the vital habitat management needed to sustain the area’s biodiversity.
Notes to Editors:
The 27.5 hectare site has more biodiversity per square foot than any other site in the UK, including the following invertebrates:-
32 Red Data Book species,
120 Nationally Scarce species,
4 species prioritised for conservation action in the Government’s BAP
4 species known from nowhere else in the UK,
The Canvey Island ground beetle (Scybalicus oblongiusculus) and the Morley beetle (Sitona cinerascens) were threatened with extinction by the previous development proposals.
Other species on the site include the Shrill carder bee (Bombus sylvarum), Brown-banded carder bee (Bombus humilis), the Scarce emerald damselfly (Lestes dryas), Fen sac-spider (Clubiona juvenis), Golden-girdle jumper (Bianor aurocinctus), Saltmarsh shortspur (Anisodactylus poeciloides), Tumbling flower beetles (Mordellistena spp.), Big-spotted cleg (Haematopota bigoti), Long-horned cleg (Haematopota grandis), Rose plume (Cnaemidophorus rhododactyla) and Twin-spot honey (Aphomia zelleri).
Summary of Headline Sustainability Indicators for East of England Economy Environment
Achieving 7 3
Failing 1 4
Insufficient data 4 2
About Buglife:
Buglife-The Invertebrate Conservation Trust is the first organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates, and is actively engaged in saving Britain's rarest bugs, slugs, snails, bees, wasps, ants, spiders, beetles and many more fascinating invertebrates.
www.buglife.org.uk
For further information please contact:
Matt Shardlow 01733 201210, matt.shardlow
(Photos of the site are available).
Chris Lock, EEDA press officer, 01223 200871, chrislock@eeda.org.uk
For background information, and to support our campaign to save Northwick Road please go to All of a Buzz on Canvey Island
