Conservationists urged to demand wildlife is preserved in Stafford Gateway consultation
Conservationists are being urged to make their voices heard during the consultation for the massive new Stafford Station Gateway development.
The long-awaited plans to create around 900 homes, offices, an innovation hub and an 80-bed hotel and 350 space car park were unveiled in August with a public consultation being held throughout September.
Discussions about redeveloping the land around Stafford Railway Station stretch back to 1991 and in the meantime wildlife has flourished in the land and around lakes on the site.
Stafford conservationist Neil Thomas is aghast at the new plans and is determined to save local wildlife including nesting birds and fish which attract anglers from across the county.
He said: "We've waited 30 years for these plans and they are disappointing and unimaginative, if they go ahead as they are it would squander a unique opportunity for Stafford."
"The whole of the balancing pond site is owned by Stafford Borough Council. The council’s failure to declare it a local nature reserve is a scandal.
"The proposals for the Marling Terrace zone show two blocks of apartments being built on the balancing pond zone. These unnecessary proposals are manifestly harmful to the wildlife value and should be deleted."
In the 1990s Mr Thomas co-ordinated the Swan Lake project which included local community groups. the borough and county councils residents, Lord Stafford, Midland and General Homes and businesses. The Staffordshire Wildlife Trust recognised the project's success with an award in 1994.
He said: "The partnership provided a nesting platform in the lake and planted native trees and other flora around it. The nesting platform used by swans has recently disappeared.
"A watercourse connecting the balancing pond to the River Sow is threatened. Nesting birds frequently use it to migrate to the river. It is also essential to the supply of fish which anglers enjoy catching, with no harm to other wildlife."
He added: "No mention is made of the legal need for an environmental impact assessment which will be required before any planning application can be considered. That should be prepared before any further work takes place.
"The public consultation pictures shows the Castlefields balancing pond with wild birds and people enjoying it, but the text makes no mention of its thriving wildlife. The proposals would harm the wildlife which thrives in and around the pond."
He added: "People who care about wildlife in Stafford need to work together and make our voices heard in the public consultation."
The Gateway development is a bid by Stafford Borough Council, Staffordshire County Council, London and Continental Railways, Network Rail, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Homes England to capitalise on the HS2 line running through Staffordshire.
The consultation runs until September 29. Learn more online at staffordbc.gov.uk/stafford-station-gateway-consultation.
