This has been a busy week of outrage. A round-up of what's been discussed and of concern to people with a keen interest in land and environment issues, locally and nationally.
HOGGIN HOCUS POCUS - the wish of the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA), would seem to be the command of the Waltham Forest Planning Committee. Yet again, they are seeking retrospective approval for work partially completed. A report will be presented to the Planning Committee on Tuesday 1 July, concerning the installation of boat mooring posts (already in place) and a Hoggin pathway (vegetation cleared in preparation). The report notes that there is a lot of public opposition but considers many of the complaints outside of the planning committee brief. SLM members will be present at the committee to speak against. Amongst our concerns are:
that the report should not be presented whilst on going complaints have not been answered; that the LVRPA is trying to push through "residential" moorings under the guise of "leisure" moorings; have used underhand tactics to "divide and rule" boaters and also that the Hoggin path (a mixture of gravel, sand and other aggregate), is unnecessary and not environmentally sound - disputing the committee report's words 'not expected to be harmful impact on ecological habitats'...
PROUD TO BE NIMBY'S - still in Waltham Forest. We reported a few weeks ago about the Waltham Forest Growth Commission. There is an interesting article see http://wwwtheguardian.com/
EATON MANOR MESS - yes we are still in Waltham Forest - a report went to Executive Committee on 15 May which agreed that the allotments be moved to Marsh Lane to make way for a 'temporary meadow' at Eaton Manor at a cost of £480k with £160k coming from the LVRPA enough said?
ENGLAND'S GREEN AND PRESENT LAND - last week we were wondering what happened regarding the Infrastructure Bill and the land underneath our feet being threatened. It was discussed at the House of Lords on Wednesday. This Bill has been described as a 'targeted mess of unrelated issues'. But what these issues have in common is the land on which we stand - e.g. the right to carry out fracking underneath anyone's premises and the sell off of the Land Registry. A good article to read on this was on page 31 of 'The Guardian' on Tuesday 24 June, by George Monbiot under the heading of 'Beware the small print that threatens all public land'.
PARKLIFE - The Heritage Lottery have published a new report called 'State of Uk Parks 2014 Renaissance to risk' seewww.hlf.org.uk/news/pages/
BEES ON THEIR KNEES - this week's campaign of the week: Tuesday is the closing date to sign a petition headed towards David Cameron concerning a large company Sygenta's request to use its Neonicotinoid pesticide in the UK, when it has been banned in Europe. For further information I would direct you to the front page/p.11 of 'The Guardian' on Tuesday 24 June headed 'Pest sprays put world food supplies at risk, say scientists' and also see http://worldscience.org/
CONTRACTOR-ITUS - one of our dogged members has found out that the LVRPA's new contractor for grass cutting, Glendale, has attracted some criticism from other areas where they operate see http://sleafordstandard.co.uk/
MAYBE, MABLEY GREEN - a report on plans for Mabley Green's edible park and new sports pitch go to Hackney Planning Committee on 2 July. Mabley Green (Hackney Marsh and Kingsmead), also features in the new edition of 'Hackney Today", as one of three the designated L.B. Hackney/Walk 4 Life map areas for 'Hackney Wildlife Walks for kids to take their parents on!' This is based on an idea originally tried out in the Lake District. The other areas are Haggerston to Hoxton and Woodberry Down & West Reservoir. Let's hope they find some wildlife...
A TOUCH OF THE WOODBERRY DOWNS - whilst mentioning Woodberry Downs, I confess I coughed and spluttered through another article in 'Hackney Today', about the Woodberry Down Estate regeneration fun day. Cllr. Philip Glanville, Cabinet Member for Housing said ' It was great to see so many residents enjoying the fun day, and finding out how we're regenerating the estate, replacing unfit for purpose properties with high quality new homes and community facilities' (cough) does he mean the (high quality), leaning tower that has many investment lettings in it? Or some of the remaining houses, where people who bought their prime sited homes are not being offered a fair price in today's market? I wonder?
EVENTS
It's Herbal Medicine Week (21-29 June), and Qualified Medical Herbalist extraordinaire, Elsa Hamaz will be doing a guided herbal walk around the Robin Hood Community Garden at the bottom of Big Hill in E5 from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday 29 June. People will be invited to try and sample. For those of you who have never visited, the Robin Hood is a lovely reclaimed space, near where the former pub the Robin Hood formerly stood.
Doing 'The East End Walk' - on Sunday 6 July starting at 2.00 at the Bromley-by-Bow Tube Station (District Line) and finishing at Stratford at around 4.30. As well as getting exercise, this walk has a purpose to bring people and groups together to take a look at the area post Olympics, and ask is it really better? The walk is free but donations to support the newspaper o the Action East End Group 'The Howler' would be welcomed.
The next meeting of SLM will be at the Princess of Wales, Lea Bridge Road at 7.00 p.m. on Monday 30 June(outside if the weather is good - inside if not!). All welcome.
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