Saving Hillcrest Ancient woodland from Lewisham Homes

UPDATE: this petition worked, the proposal was withdrawn (see below).

Please sign the petition to stop building on ancient woodland Original petition link.

 

 

“We are long standing residents of Lewisham who have an intimate knowledge of living in this area, but no-one is listening to our citizen-led guidance (Sydenham Society, Longton Avenue Residents Association, Friends of Hillcrest Woods, Friends of Sydenham Wells Park)

“Hillcrest Woods is Borough Grade 1 Site of Important Nature Conservation (SINC) woodland so why are Lewisham Homes building on this when this is against the London Plan guidance?

“It’s a beautiful, natural environment whose value for local people is being totally ignored.  Read Chris Packham’s article in the Guardian on 11th June 2018 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/11/chris-packham-springwatch-warns-of-ecological-apocalypse-britain  Hillcrest Woods is not labelled as a nature reserve like Devonshire Road or Garthorne Road but it is even more important as a natural environment.  We already have pink campion, yellow flag iris, ramsons, bluebells, and ragged robin wildflowers which are lost and much lamented elsewhere in the UK.  We naturally have bats, owls, willow warblers, great tits, woodpeckers, magpies, ducks, sparrow hawks, purple hairstreak butterflies, stag beetles, foxes, lizards, newts, frogs, toads and bees.  We also have endangered and at risk species such as hobby, kestrel, swift, collard dove, sparrow and firecrest – why not protect what we already have?

“We are being force-fed a vision, designed in Edinburgh, of how we want to live that is not real.  In fact it’s the opposite of how we currently live or want to live in the future. Lewisham Labour party campaigned in May 2018 on its Green legacy and that the future administration would be clean and green.  This development is building on Lewisham’s green legacy – why?  We feel duped.

“Lewisham has many spaces that would benefit from good housing development – Willow Way and the Gas Works at Bell Green.  Why not build on these instead?

“Lewisham has an appallingly low percentage of greenness – 14% compared to the London average of 20%.  Why are you building on an already beautiful green space?”

PETITION UPDATE

Victory!

Concerned Residents

United Kingdom

13 OCT 2018 — Due to the superhuman efforts of residents of Longton Avenue and Hillcrest Estate, Lewisham Council has withdrawn its planning application to destroy mature trees and build over the woodland.

Lewisham Council – Hillcrest housing redevelopment plans withdrawn
https://www.lewisham.gov.uk

 

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