Petition for Ancient Wood & no more Green Belt creep - please help

[Airbag]

Hi All

We are campaigning to stop a 2 lane lit road that will run along a boundary section (with no buffer zone) of Hadley Wood, Herts, UK. I spoke to an ecology lecturer from Capel Manor yesterday who confirmed that there are bat roosts in the vicinity of this new road. The light pollution will affect the whole green corridor of this wood - let alone the physical road itself !

The road is being cut from my daughter's schools playing field but this field - which is large - & as such, is a big tract of peaceful land that abuts this beautiful ancient wood. It is also going sever the Pymmes Brook Trail with a concrete culvert thus breaking the ecological chain of the brook. The trail is heralded as a little gem in Barnet Council's ecological aspirations - how laughable that looks now !

This is a small but glaring example of green belt 'creep' that we've just got to jump on. Ironically, this road is to service a new school - which is welcome to the area - but this new school did not want to build this road ( it has to find £1 mill + from it's own budget to do so ) It is Barnet Council planners who want it and a road on Metropolitan Open Space can only mean further development. Sorry that last sentance is just my speculation and not 'fact' - I should be fair and say that. But I am cynical. And that is a fact.

We urgently need signatures on the online pettition - & , just generally, we need support ! And all this by 27th June deadline - 17 days time !

Please go to www.myspace.com/bscaeg to see the area map, more articles on this issue, as well as the link to sign the petition if you decide to help us thereafter. And bless you if you do.

Sorry if I've contravened any forum rules with this appeal & especially my rant. I wrote this at 7.45 am after a sleepless night realising that Nature might save us if we save her !

Thanks for even reading this -

Kind Rgds
Airbag of Barnet

[nightshade]

Who is involved so far, Natural England,Wildlife Trusts??

[eeyore]

i would suggest that people only sign the petition if they live in the barnet area - otherwise it runs the risk of being dismissed as irrelevant if it is dominated by signatories who have no local connection.

it is also interesting to examine the myspace quoted above which shows that not every barnet resident is behind the petition , indeed some seem to feel that the school needs the new road in order not to increase significant traffic through the estate - as ever its a thorny issue with lots of pros and cons.

finally i'm not convinced that the development will have that big an impact on nearby bat colonies - assuming of course that the roosts arent due to be felled as part of the work, bats like lit up highways as they provide a linear feature to navigate by and a smorgasboard of insect life to chow down upon.

[Airbag]

Hi

Thanks for the replies and informed opinion is always useful.

Friends of the Earth are providing support and the London Bat Group to date to my knowledge but the organisers of BSCAEG will know of others . We have over 600 signatures at time of writing and counting. Guess the numbers are going to level out soon, our area is a very small corner of Barnet, but we filled the community centre at the last meeting.

As for living in Barnet to only sign or you dilute the message - well fair point. I would especially hope to attract interest from residents of north London / Hertfordshire - a pretty big area - as we all benefit from the Green Belt if we live in those locales.

Please be mindful that I have invited people to the myspace page so they can read all the articles and editorials and decide about signing the petition. Pros & cons is right - that's why I chose the word 'decide' in my post.

The linear pathway liked by bats I get but I believe some roosts will be vulnerable. But lets not forget small mammal road kill, light pollution into a half-mile stretch of wooded area and the severing of a brook. That to me seems a disrupted green corridor. An ecologist reminded me that vehicles also bring with them alien seeds which will contaminate the ecosystem there. I laughed because really the cars will be coming from Golders Green and Finchley. But on reflection, the intensive truck & lorry traffic as they demolish the old school then ship in materials to contruct the new buildings will be contaminating. Materials don't get locally sourced & lorries from all over the UK will be trundling pass the wood.

The weight of traffic problem is very tricky because the proposal will draw the traffic right past our primary school which throws our own green travel plan inititives - ie walking school bus into jeopardy as the route will now be so dangerous & utterly fume filled. The roads in the immediate vicinity are narrow enough get blocked with just one car parked on one verge. The new school is proposing it's own Green Travel Plans but these are not binding conditions and are only applicable to year 4 + . These facts aren't being reported in the press. Unless they're made binding all green travel plans proposed are only 'aspirational'. The double whammy really is that if the school actually did implement their GTP then the new road will be unnecessary.

My own, very personal angle is the Green Belt creep. Once that road gets built on the playground - well it'll only be a matter of time. I guess you got to live in a London Borough to know a) how very precious any green space is & b) how vulnerable these valuable ( & I mean in £££ too) areas are as well. Just got to fight for them & argue for greener travel initiatives.

But, as I say, the last bit is my pet angst - for others in the campaign it's the knowledge that the new road just will not alleviate the almighty traffic mess that's about to descend on us, that the new road will mean they won't bother with a Green Travel Plan. For others it's more the affected green corridor.

We all have our reasons & it's why the campaign is packing out halls.

Thanks again for discussing the post

Kind Rgds

Airbag of Barnet

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by eeyore

i
finally i'm not convinced that the development will have that big an impact on nearby bat colonies - assuming of course that the roosts arent due to be felled as part of the work, bats like lit up highways as they provide a linear feature to navigate by and a smorgasboard of insect life to chow down upon.

Some bats are drawn to lights other aren't some species are actively deterred by light. And as bats roosts are protected from disturbance, should any roosts fall within the lit areas this could be considered disturbance. It won't stop the road but it is a reason to push for really good mitigation - improvement of the other side of the wood for example or nearby wildlife reserve.

Airbag, What kind of ecological mitigation is going in as a part of the scheme?

[Airbag]

Hi

Good question Gill . At time of writing none ! But BSCAEG are ploughing thru the application document which is just over a 1,000 pages. Will get back to you on that.

What is the score if there is no mitigation ?

Rgds
Airbag of Barnet

[stripee]

Hello Airbag,
I have just been having a quick look at your campaign page and am considering signing....I grew up near Hadley Woods long ago when all children walked to school. Why is there going to be a new school built? Silly question, but Barnet has plenty of schools already??

[Airbag]

Hi

Well it's to be a jewish secondary school - the first of it's kind being a completely non-catchment faith school. It's to be built on the existing site of East Barnet School - Lower school site.

The implications are that the school's intake will have to commute as the location in our little corner of Barnet is probably the least jewish area in all of Barnet. One bus serves the area. The school comes with a package that will completely renovate East Barnet Schools Upper school site in East Barnet. Because little money has gone into the old school over the years this is very desperately needed funding.

Nobody is saying no to the school. A new school to be built on an old school site doesn't tread on any toes, does it ? But those of us in the loop know that the new school doesn't want the new road. It's Barnet planners that do. There's the general feeling of gloom that once the new road goes down then it will be only a matter of time before the rest of the field goes to developers. Despite being a covenant on the land, Barnet are notorious for ignoring this designation ( Hendon FC, Barnet FC Underhill ground are recent examples).

The field is the last remaining buffer of land on the south side of the wood, but it's doomed if the road gets built.

Hope that's helped -please consider signing. Although we've now got in total over 1,000 signatures absolutlely every single one extra will count. It's amazing how the local community has rallied to this little bit of green space - but we have to keep right on with our drive till closing date 27th June.

Thanks for posting to ask the question.

Rgds Airbag of Barnet

[stripee]

Thanks for your reply AIrbag. There used to be a school called the Jewish Free School, maybe in Finchley or Golders Green, I can't quite remember. Perhaps the JFS school no longer exists. Is there an alternative route out from the school that would be less destructive?

[Airbag]

Hi Stripee

JFS is in Kenton, Middx - there are other secondary (jewish) schools but they are all Orthodox - for all of London ! This blocks access to the very large (larger even?) Reform jewry to secondary education for their children. We understand the genuine need for this school.

The only way to minimise congestion for the area in general is to promote a robust Green Travel Plan. This is the aim of BSCAEG in essence. We're looking for GTP conditions with teeth to enforce the school to implement one. If this comes into being then all need for the new road is negated. Because the school will have a non-catchment area / cross-borough intake & is sited in a very low jewish area the car commute levels will be huge thru East Barnet & local residential roads.

The school doesn't want to build the road - the council does & we have to seriously question why the council wants to encroach on Metropolitan Open Space (protected land) & contaminate the green corridor of Pymmes Brook & Hadley Wood. Could it be that any future environmental obstruction to future development of the field will be null & void as the (new) road will have done the job already???????

Thanks for the question & pse em if you want to discuss more.

Kind Rgds

Airbag of Barnet