SLM Digest 11-7-16

Hello all,

Apologies for the lack of digest over the last couple of weeks. Our trusty Celia has her arm in a cast and I've been unable to fill her shoes.

Although this is not a proper digest, I thought I'd put together for you a few highlights of the week, plus important news:

Free School

You may have seen earlier in the week that Cllr Rathbone sent round the proposals for a free school on the Clancy Docwra site. There are many concerns about this, summed up in the email objection circulated from Campaign to Protect Rural England. Whilst it is a brownfield site, it is protected Metropolitan Open Land. Local groups will be convening to discuss the issue and the NUT has also been contacted.

Beautiful Migration

A real highlight of the week was the visit of a rare rose finch to Walthamstow Marshes, a story covered in Loving Dalston here: A solo East European migrant draws watchers to a willow tree in Walthamstow Marshes

				A solo East European migrant draws watchers to a willow ... Hackney » LATEST » NATURE & CONSERVATION » NEWS A solo East European migrant draws watchers to a willow tree in Walthamstow Marshes 0 Comments
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We'll Meet You About the Car Wash, Yeah!

This week SLM reps visited the AGM of Lee Valley Regional Park. We spoke against the recently installed car wash which contravenes MOL guidance, the Park Act and the London Plan as well as adding to pollution and undermining the purpose of the Mini Holland improvements.  Images of the car wash were handed out to the LVRPA members at the meeting. We'll keep you posted on any response.

No Minutes to Lose

We also spoke at the AGM regarding the minutes from the last Authority meeting where it was agreed that the new ice centre would not encroach beyond the 'red line' outlined on the map of Leyton Marshes and would not extend north onto Leyton Marsh.

Despite these promises being excluded from the minutes, after the intervention, the members voted to agree the inclusion of the statements made into the minutes which will be amended accordingly.

Tales from the Marsh

10 July 2016,2.30pm,

Coppermill Field, Coppermill Lane, London, E17 7HE

FREE – but tickets must be booked in advance.

From the Ground Up explores the magnetic pull of Walthamstow and Leyton Marshes. Made in collaboration with three local groups, Made in collaboration with three local groups, older people and women and daughters, both based at The Mill, and a group of teenagers from Llamas school

Through creative workshops and walking conversations, Siobhan O’Neill has carved out a space for inhabitants to reflect on their diverse lived experiences of the Marshes. From intimate stories to political provocations, these narratives unearth a strong bond to common land, simmering anxiety over urban development and an intense need to connect with the natural environment.

Live performance, reminiscence, image, poetry and landscape combine to create a quirky and poignant evocation of this urban wildness.

More details here: https://www.facebook.com/Tales-from-the-Marsh-856320851163706/

SLM Digest 17-6-16

Save Lea Marshes is an open group of  local people concerned to keep the marshes and green spaces of the Lea Valley open and green for wildlife and local people.  For further information go to www.saveleamarshes.org.uk   View this email in your browser

SLM Weekly Digest Keep Our Marshes Open and Green! This is the Weekly Digest of Save Lea Marshes.  We are an open group of local people dedicated to keeping the green spaces and marshes of the Lea Valley area for the betterment of wildlife and for the health of people now and in the future.  To find out more about our ongoing campaigns please see our websitewww.saveleamarshes.org.uk We offer our condolences for the friends and family of MP Jo Cox who was horrifically murdered on Thursday, and can only repeat what her friends are saying she was all about: “Hope not hate”. Let’s hope there are lessons learned. With SLM our week has been dominated by the decision to go ahead with the building of the twin pad ice rink on Leyton Marsh – albeit with assurances that building will be focused towards the road, be visually and environmentally acceptable and not infringe more of the marsh.  We’ll be reporting back in more detail. SUDS LAW – the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority or more properly the Trust arm “Vibrant Partnerships” - seem to think that putting an independent car washing business on the Ice Centre site is a funding initiative that will assuage the member boroughs who have to watch their area budgets and limit their contribution to the upkeep and future of the Lee Valley Park.  This is like throwing pennies into a Wishing Well and not in keeping with the guardianship of the area that the LVRPA was set up to do.  The “delightful” blue canopy structure is now in place see below: DAM IT!  Whilst SLM are trying to fend of ice and soap suds (and worse) on the marshes, across the other side of the world the indigenous people – the Mundururu are fighting off the Brazilian Government’s plan to build a huge energy dam through their Amazon territory.  Sign the Greenpeace petition: www.greenpeace.org.uk PANNING IT FOR GOOD - PAN UK member Nick Mole last night spoke at an excellent and well attended first public meeting about the campaign to make Hackney one of the 'Pesticide Free' areas across the world. For more info about next steps, keep posted on the 'Pesticide Free Hackney' page. IN THE PRESS – The Hackney Gazette letters page, p. 8 has a letter protesting about the plans of Hackney Council to build a school for six years on land in Haggerston Park www.hackneygazette.co.uk/letters  The June issue of the Hackney Citizen (Issue 80) has on p.7 an article on “Lea Valley Ice Centre could put ‘vital green lung at risk”, www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/news  and in the books section on p.16 a review of Historian Travis Elborough’s book “A Walk in the Park:  The Life and Times o a People’s Institution”, published by Jonathan Cape (with a photograph of some well-known local people). www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/   - and well just look at the whole publication on line or grab a copy from a library. Nationally in The Sunday Times, 12.6.16, p. 14 “Stargazers see red as night sky lightens”, on the “Night Blight” CPRE report on we’re just using too much light in our infrastructure, e.g. Football Stadiums such as Wembley and giant greenhouses being major light polluters.   The Guardian Tuesday 14.6.16 has two stories on p.13 “Child mental illness is linked to air pollution – more psychiatric disorders where air quality is worse, Swedish research finds even low levels have an effect and “Plea to help hedgehogs as sightings fall”, gardeners can help reverse the decline by avoiding pesticides and slug pellets, providing water and access through their gardens. IN THE FRACKING CORNER – whilst we hear of one woman’s  situation of being ordered by a court to be the nominated person (or “Judgement Debtor), to pay an eviction fee (after people had actually left) of £55,342.37 after a three week Anti-fracking protest in Flyde, Lancashire, where Cuadrilla plan to drill – see her blog. Contrast this with the story in The Guardian yesterday, p. 17 Concern raised at firm called Ineos plan to dump fracking water in the sea, which also mentions that Cuadrilla withdrew an application for a permit to frack in Lancashire after the Environment Agency (EA) tightened the rules for disposal after 2m gallons of wastewater had already been discharged into the Manchester ship canal. EVENTS  Saturday 18 June – Mabley Green is running its Saturday Gardening Club from 11.00, all welcome and tells us that Eco Active will be running another club on thefirst and third Tuesday of the month between 1.00-3.00 p.m. and that there will be a special meeting  for Mabley Green supporters on Tuesday 21 June at the Star & Jackdaw in Homerton Road E.9. at 8.00 p.m. to discuss future plans and elect some few representatives to the committee. Monday 20 June, SLM are organising a Midsummer’s Night Walk and a visit to a local pub to remember Katy Andrews.  Katy is still very much with us in spirit and in our thinking. The Canal’s & River Trust (CaRT) are organising a volunteer day on 27 June to carry out some monitoring work aimed at saving the European Eel in the River Lea. There are posters up – more details in June Hackney Citizen, p10. And finally.. is this the shape of things to come, going over from Hackney on the Lea Bridge the cycle lane is on the right  then entering Waltham Forest’s Mini Holland, it switches to the left – how are pedestrians supposed to deal with this?   Share Tweet Forward

Copyright © 2016 Save Lea Marshes, All rights reserved. You signed up for this email by contacting us directly or ticking a sign up sheet on a petition. Our mailing address is: Save Lea Marshes c/o The Hornbeam Centre 458 Hoe St Walthamstow, London E17 9AH United Kingdom Add us to your address book

New School in Lea Bridge Road

Dear Lea Valley Federation ,

Proposals for a new primary and secondary school in Waltham Forest

I am writing on behalf of REAch2 Academy Trust and the Lion Academy Trust about our proposals for a new primary school and a new secondary school on a single site in Waltham Forest.

As you may be aware, the Education Funding Agency (EFA) completed the purchase of the Thames Water Depot at 150A Lea Bridge Road in April 2016 after an open sale process.

The EFA is now working with REAch2 Academy Trust and the Lion Academy Trust to develop proposals so that a new two-form entry primary school and eight-form entry secondary school can open in temporary facilities on the site from September 2017, with permanent purpose-built school buildings being completed in 2018 and 2019, subject to planning permission.

Both Trusts already run local schools that are rated by Ofsted as Outstanding and we are confident the new schools will deliver the same high standards of education in an area that needs additional school places.

The Depot site itself would be transformed from concrete and hard-standing into new school buildings with playgrounds, sports facilities and new green space, which could also be used by the wider community out of school hours.

We are now starting public consultation on the principle of the two schools opening on the site, which will feed into our emerging designs for the two schools. There will be further consultation later this Summer before we submit a planning application to the London Borough of Waltham Forest in autumn 2016

As part of this first stage of consultation we would be delighted to welcome you to one of our public exhibitions to view our proposals and speak with members of the project team. The exhibition will take place on:

Public Exhibition One
When: Saturday 16 July, 10am-2pm
Where: WaterWorks Centre & Middlesex Filter Beds, Lammas Rd, E10 7NU

Public Exhibition Two
When: Tuesday 19 July, 4pm-8pm
Where: WaterWorks Centre & Middlesex Filter Beds, Lammas Rd, E10 7NU

In the meantime should you wish to meet with the team, or would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Helena Carrie on hec@londoncommunications.co.uk or 0207 612 8480.

Yours sincerely,

Justin James	Sir Steve Lancashire
Chief Executive Officer	Chief Executive Officer
Lion Academy Trust	REAch2 Academy Trust