Here’s another one for the little list - Natural England
Putting Tony Juniper - who ran Friends of the Earth for many years - in charge of what may be built, where, at Natural England might not have been a good idea. In fact, it was very midwit and that’s to be polite about it.
A small colony of endangered spiders has halted the development of more than a thousand new homes in a blow to the Government’s growth plans.
Plans to build hundreds of new houses and flats in Ebbsfleet in Kent have been abandoned after Natural England designated part of the Government-approved location - a filled-in quarry and the cleared site of a former cement works next to a railway station - as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The designation was necessary to protect a colony of rare “distinguished jumping spiders” from developers, Natural England said, even though doing so obstructed part of a £300 million Government-backed plan to build a new town.
Attulus distinguendus might be rare in Britain but it’s possible to have that strong suspicion as with the varied types of bats - not much looking around for them has been done. On the other hand we also have this:
The spider was only discovered in Britain in 2003 and is today only found in two locations: West Thurrock marshes and Swanscombe peninsula. Both are “brownfield” sites in the Thames Gateway, the largest area designated for new development in Europe.
Politicians from both right and left are queueing up to build on brownfield because it seems – and sounds – so much better to place new buildings on the footprint of old rather than concrete over the luscious greenbelt.
But life isn’t that simple, and most brownfield sites, particularly those in the warm, dry south-east, are far more biodiverse than farmers’ fields. Some are the most biodiverse sanctuaries in the land. The abandoned oil refinery at Canvey Wick, for instance, is home to nearly 2,000 invertebrate species. Many thrive because the old concrete and rubble create dry, sheltered and warm microclimates where species at the northern edge of their natural range can thrive.
We can’t build on greenfield sites because that is to mumble, mumble, nature. We can’t build on brownfield sites because the sort of bugs that colonise brownfield sites must be mumble mumble.
We have, in fact, handed over power over the entire economy to someone wholly BANANAs - build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything.
Hopefully, someone, somewhere, is keeping that list of past governmental mistakes that need to be reversed when the time comes. Putting Mr. Juniper, in charge at Natural England just shows how and why Natural England should not exist and that existence needs to be rectified.
For look what they’re doing. They really are insisting that brownfield sites cannot be developed because there are bugs that like brownfield sites. Not even native bugs, just windblown driveby bugs.
Afuera, eh? And the horse they rode in on.
Tim Worstall