Hi .
The Wensum Valley supercolony of rare barbastelle bats and the issue of the NWL and failure of mitigation measures will be featured on Countryfile tomorrow.
Please help us capitalise on the publicity by sharing this email and on social media!
The independent survey work that discovered the extent of barbastelle presence in the Valley, and in path of the proposed road route is still ongoing.
Dr. Lotty Packman and her team have been out in the area doing long hours of collecting data over the summer, and will now be writing it up so it can be published. The survey undertaken by Norfolk CCs contractors did find some barbastelles but missed just how big this collection of colonies is - it is of European level importance.
The WHY is Revealed
Building the NWL is part of the drive for development in the Norwich area. No-one argues that there is a need to build housing, but but big car-dependent developments on green field sites? There is evidence that housing targets are
based on inflated
figures, and these targets then drive this kind of development that encroaches into the countryside.
Norwich doesn't have a green belt. A series of
'green wedges' were proposed to link city and countryside for both people and wildlife. One of these would be along the Wensum, and another would encompass the area just south of the A47 where this development is proposed. Unfortunately these wedges have
not been put in place so there is no structure to balance the need for development with keeping the wildlife and character of the Greater Norwich area intact.
If you have concerns about this or other proposed developments, then the
Community Planning Alliance is a good source of information and support.
Read This
SWL member Iain Robinson wrote an excellent article for East Anglia Bylines in response to COP26. Sometimes climate change and the protection of ecology and wildlife can seem like different issues, sometimes even in conflict,
but really they are deeply intertwined. In the case of the NWL where not only is rare and precious ecology is under threat, but also the threatened woodland acts as a carbon sink. Building a road with carbon intensive concrete would increase Norfolk's emissions, and simultaneously we would lose an important area that is locking carbon up: our 'woodland ark'.
Let's make sure it doesn't happen: please have those conversations with people you know and bring them to SWL Invite them the sign up for this newsletter (check spam if don't get confirmation)
T shirts
We now have SWL branded T-shirt: M/L £12 . Wear yours and start those conversations!
Contact stopthewensumlink@protonmail.com if you would like one.
The Stop the Wensum Link team
