Who opposes T5?

A number of NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are opposing T5 on ecological grounds - London Wildlife Trust, the Selborne Society, West London Friends of the Earth (FoE), Plantlife and the London Natural History Society. West London FoE submitted the most detailed and wide-ranging evidence to the T5 Public Inquiry and it cross-examined BAA and Thames Water on their plans to destroy valuable wildlife sites.

What is valuable about the T5 site?

T5 would be built on Perry Oaks, a sewage sludge treatment works. Despite its unpleasant connotations, Perry Oaks is a fine wildlife site. Sludge resulting from sewage treatment at Mogden is pumped into lagoons to allow the water to evaporate. Once the water has dried off, the sludge is collected and taken to farms in the area for use as fertiliser. These lagoons provide a rich feeding area for wildfowl and waders; indeed, Perry Oaks is one of the finest sites in the London area.

As well as the familiar species such as mallard, coot, moorhen, swan and Canada goose, many less common ones have been recorded : gadwell, gargeny, greylag goose, teal, widgeon, avocet, godwit, greenshank, Brent goose, oystercatcher, red-necked phalarope, pintail, snipe, stilt, stint, whimbrel, little grebe, redshank, shellduck and shoveler. Some of these have only been recorded once or twice but others are regulars. Because of its relative seclusion and lack of disturbance, Perry Oaks has built up a useful flora and associated range of non-water birds. As well as many familiar park and garden birds, some less familiar or common ones have been recorded: corn bunting, reed bunting, lapwing, house martin, partridge, meadow pipit, sand martin, skylark, tree sparrow, sparrowhawk, yellow wagtail, reed warbler and sedge warbler

.

What will be disrupted by the new treatment works?

Thames Water, the operator of the sludge works at Perry Oaks, proposes to move the operation to Iver South to make way for T5. Iver S is already a sludge treatment works and there are disused filter beds which have become good habitat. In particular, a good reedbed has developed.

Birds recorded in the last 20 years include: reed bunting, cormorant, curlew, ruddy duck, dunlin, gadwell, gannet, garganey, godwit, goldeneye, goosander, black necked, little and slavonian grebe, greenshank, kingfisher, lapwing, linnet, sand martin, merganser, merlin, barn and short-eared owl, pintail, meadow pipit, ringed, little ringed and golden plover, pochard, water rail, ruff, scaup, velvet scoter, shoveler, shrike, snipe, tree sparrow, little stint, stonechat, Bewick's swan, teal, 4 tern species, turnstone, 3 wagtail species, grasshopper, reed and sedge warbler, wheatear, whinchat, widgeon, wryneck and yellowhammer.

What will be damaged at the T5 spur road site?

As if the damage caused at Perry Oaks were not enough, an unholy alliance of BAA and the Department of Transport is looking to destroy an area of grassland with a direct spur from the M25 to T5 and to damage the River Colne by building a bridge over it with supports on the river bed.

The Colne is a relatively unpolluted clay/chalk river with a rich flora and fauna. Jacqueline Shane found an uncommon water crowfoot, graced by the name Ranunculus pencilliatus subspecies pseudofluitans variety pseudofluitans.

Jacqeline Shane also found a patch of cowslips in a field near the proposed route of the M25 spur; as far as we know this is the only site for cowslips in the lower Colne valley. Then, in May 1996, she excelled herself by finding water avens. This is a plant which, although quite common in the north and west, is rare in the south east, only known doubtfully from one other site in the whole of SE England. The water avens has achieved celebrity status, eliciting letters from the national charity Plantlife and an article in the Times.

BAA had empoyed a consultant, Penny Anderson, a large sums of money to report on the the ecology of the area around T5. Yet she, in years of work, failed to find what the hard pressed and unfunded voluteers found in a few hours.

The unprofessional ecology advice BAA use

The performance of the ecologist for BAA, Penny Anderson, and the ecologist for Thames Water, Dr. Johnson, at the T5 Inquiry were shameful. They sought to show the sites are of little ecological value and came up with pathetic arguments such as the birds can just go somewhere else. They ignored basic ecological principles and issues and did not even mention biodiversity.

Penny Anderson has also negotiated 'mitigation' which takes the form of some minor, low priority works on new reserve, Barn Elms, belonging to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT). A small donation to WWT is also planned to enable them to do some for monitoring work. Needless to say, WWT are not objecting to the destruction of the fine site for wildfowl and waders at Perry Oaks. Richmond Council, LWT and WWF, among others, are very concerned that they have been conned by WWT and that WWT has compromised its principles by taking money from a company who are planning to destroy wildfowl and wader habitat.

Return to bulldozing the countryside

Return to T5 introduction page