Wildlife habitats are being choked
I AM sure that most residents of Hastings enjoy the occasional bird song and a walk on the wild side.
Unfortunately, the pleasures of seeing our native birds and butterflies, and enjoying the scents of our wild vivid colours are rapidly vanishing across the borough of Hastings.
Our planners are slowly strangling our town with a never-ending chain of agreed developments. This being the built environment, rate-paying residents put forward very serious objections but are ridden over rough-shod.
Let’s stop and think for a second. What is actually going on? Sewage systems are overloaded - in fact, bursting along Harold Road areas. Hastings will soon enjoy a completely built-up environment.
Already central St Leonards enjoys one of the most densely populated areas in the south of England. Where are children going to be able to play in the open air, the sunshine, in the future?
The Conquest Hospital is overwhelmed, its catchment area now has more than double the number of residents than when it was first planned.
When JCBs and bulldozers move in, decimating the area no provision is made for the survival of resident wildlife.
Some people put up bird or bat boxes to enhance the area for wildlife but these placed wrongly only leads to problems. Where do parent birds get food from in bad weather conditions, such as droughts, and when fledglings are ready for their first flight are there any small branches close by to use a landing perches or is there a hungry cat waiting on the ground? And bats are very selective in choosing a suitable roosting site.
I have been told on many occasions that Natural England closely monitors each site that it issues a licence to. But badgers and other species of protected wildlife are excluded/evicted without thought for their future. Survival and welfare are not meaningful words in our planners’ or Natural Wildlife’s vocabulary. By saving the habitat for badgers we can enhance that parcel of land for all species of wildlife to survive and have a future. If you have any ideas or concerns about this, contact me or the council’s planning department.
DON WISE
wildlife conservation specialist
304 Bexhill Road
St Leonards
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Weather for Hastings
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
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