Our Nature Reserve petition reaches 17,000 after Ealing Council trashes its own environmental policies with plan to de-wild Warren Farm
One of our Skylarks under threat, photographed on Warren Farm NR
We are a mix of (as many of you have also expressed to us in recent days) saddened, angry and dismayed at Ealing Council for trashing their own environmental policies at the recent Ealing Council cabinet meeting, where they voted to build a sports ground on Warren Farm. The plan, which was passed by the council’s cabinet on the 25th January 2023, would see more than half of our already re-wilded meadow given over to a sports facility.
At the meeting, the council’s deputy leader, Deirdre Costigan, cited poor health outcomes and low life expectancy in Southall, the causes of which are complex and multifaceted, as justification for building a sports ground here. The council also dismissed the results of its own Public Consultation carried out last year, which many of you took the time to fill in, which showed 70% of respondents valuing Warren Farm Nature Reserve’s biodiversity and open green space.
Questions asked by opponents of the plan, including a detailed 8-point letter from our Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign group, were largely ignored. The fact that this proposal goes against the council’s own Climate and Ecological Emergency policy, its Biodiversity Action Plan and red-lighted warnings in its recent Local Plan was not discussed.
Katie Boyles, Trustee of the Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) and Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign organiser, vows to continue the campaign with renewed vigour:
“We are utterly dismayed with this decision. Ealing Council have chosen to destroy our wildflower meadow habitat that has had 14 years to rewild. A site with an astonishing array of vulnerable and rare species recorded thriving on it, verified by experts. The councillors who voted this through tonight have actively contributed to the extinction of Ealing's only Skylarks and more.
The RSPB who are supporting our campaign tell us Warren Farm Nature Reserve holds a quarter of London's Skylark population - gone. Plants like our Copse Bindweed, a first record for Middlesex in over 300 years - gone. Hunting ground for our Barn Owls and Peregrine Falcons - gone. These are not the actions of a council that claims to care about the environment.
The narrative being told by Deputy Leader and Climate Action cabinet member Deirdre Costigan was shockingly full of misleading information. Showing an aerial view photo quoting 'This is what Warren Farm looks like today' was a photo taken back in 2008. And to say that 62% of the combined site of Warren Farm and the adjoined Imperial College land will be 'rewilded' is simply not true. This cannot be called ‘the biggest rewilding project in London' when Ealing councillors have just voted to destroy over half of an already rewilded site, in contravention of their own Biodiversity Action Plan.
Ealing Council leader Peter Mason keeps calling it a 'win win' situation but in truth it is a 'lose lose' situation. The children of Ealing, and in particular Southall, Norwood Green and Hanwell, will not get to grow up hearing the song of Skylarks. They are having their environment actively de-wilded in a Climate and Ecological Emergency, in one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. Imperial College, we have been told, wish to off-set their carbon footprint and we are of course supportive that they wish to give their adjourning site Local Nature Reserve designation, as we put forward in our vision for a Nature Recovery Network - but they too cannot claim to be ‘rewilding’ if they allow the destruction of already rewilded neighbouring Warren Farm Nature Reserve.
We continue our campaign with support from conservationists and wildlife organisations such as the brilliant Kabir Kaul, Mathew Frith and The London Wildlife Trust, Liz Bonnin, Chris Packham, Lolo Williams, Dr Sean McCormack, the RSPB, London National Park City, The Barn Owl Trust and so many more who can see the true value Warren Farm Nature Reserve brings for our wildlife and community.
Since the council published its plans a week ago, over 2,500 more supporters have signed our petition. We now have 17,000 supporters and growing. We urge Ealing Council to follow its own climate and biodiversity commitments and give Local Nature Reserve status to the entirety of Warren Farm Nature Reserve.”
The photo Cllr Deirdre Costigan referred to as saying “This is what Warren Farm looks like today” taken in 2008 vs the reality of what Warren Farm NR looks like today
BRCS Trustee and Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign officer, Steven Toft adds:
“This decision was justified with some bizarre leaps of logic. Poor health outcomes and low life expectancy have complex causes, yet the council claimed that putting football pitches on Warren Farm would somehow mitigate the problem without really explaining how. The councillors also admitted that they had very low engagement from people in Southall, yet they have assumed that those same people want a sports development on Warren Farm. The council’s argument seems to be, ‘Whatever the question, the answer is football pitches on Warren Farm’.”
Parviz Dabir-Alai, Emeritus Professor of Economics and former Dean of Richmond Business School, also questioned the evidence behind the council’s claims. In a letter to his local councillor, quoted here with permission, Professor Dabir-Alai says:
“I am afraid the issues addressed by Cllr Costigan left me somewhat bemused. For example, mentioning life expectancy of residents in Norwood Green and comparing that with what occurs in Northfield Ward is, at best, simplistic and at worst simply incorrect. It is not possible to provide a direct link between the installation of astroturf football pitches in one neighbourhood and life expectancy data there. Any such claim will need an extensive time series investigation covering a period of at least 20 years.
Life expectancy data depend on a whole host of different key drivers, and the most significant of those will be income and the group's wider socio-economic status. I feel that these issues are being ignored and an undue degree of importance is being placed on a single driver: provision of sports facilities.”
Ealing Council Cabinet Meeting, 25th Jan 2023. L-R Cllr Stephen Donnelly, Cllr Shital Manro, Cllr Peter Mason , Cllr Deirdre Costigan, Cllr Jasbir Anand, Cllr Kamaljit Kaur Nagpal, Cllr Bassam Mahfouz, Cllr Josh Blacker, Cllr Aysha Raza remote attendance (Cllr Lauren Wall absent)
BRCS Trustee and former Ealing Council Senior Ranger Phil Belman remarks:
“Councillor after councillor was happy to mention deprivation in Southall but didn’t mention the equally telling Local Park Deficiency. And how dare they ignore the young people of Southall's aspirations for and entitlement to, access to nature.
The council cherry-picked its arguments. The Cabinet member responsible for the Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy and the Biodiversity Action Plan, ignored both, wherever they inconveniently contradicted her position. She also seems happy to ignore the wishes of the 17,000 people who have now signed up to the BRCS Vision, the outcome of her own consultation exercise, and the strength of feeling against this report from national and local organisations and celebrities. The council also disregarded the unanimous opinions of wildlife experts that this is DEWILDING not rewilding. So now we will see Ealing Council throwing away money defending the indefensible yet again, wide open to successful legal challenge on multiple fronts for not following their own procedures and policies.”
Be sure we will continue to campaign for Local Nature Reserve designation for our entire rewilded meadow.
Please use the Local Plan consultation process to oppose the development of a sports facility on Warren Farm NR on the following grounds:
Significant loss of biodiversity (as acknowledged in the Local Plan’s Site Selection Report)
Loss of publicly accessible green space (as acknowledged in the Local Plan’s Site Selection Report)
Loss of habitats for endangered species
Loss of the borough’s only breeding Skylarks (as acknowledged in the council’s Biodiversity Action Plan)
The development would be at odds with Ealing Council’s own Climate and Ecological Strategyand would be counter-productive given the current Climate Emergency and the council’s biodiversity commitments.
You have until 8th February 2023 to make comments on the Local Plan. You can respond today by email at localplan@ealing.gov.uk.
The Warren Farm Nature Reserve petition also remains open.
Thank you for being a voice for #WarrenFarmNR, our wildlife and community who care so much! MORE CALLS TO ACTION INCOMING.
#WarrenFarmNR Group
www.WarrenFarmNatureReserve.co.uk
Twitter & Instagram: @WarrenFarmNR
Facebook Group: Warren Farm Nature Reserve