We ask Ipswich Borough Council not to sell the area known as Kiln Meadow, Belstead Brook Park, but to allow it to be used for ever for wildlife and recreation.
12th August 2010: The overwhelming public feeling against the sale of Kiln Meadow has failed to shift Ipswich Borough Council form their antediluvian attitude (e.g Councillor Russell Harsant seems to think that because their are foxes and squirrells in his garden somehow the biodiversity duty is satisfied!). Therefore we have had to resort to the law. This is a two-pronged approach:-
We have a fantastic group of supporters in Babergh, and they contacted their MP, Tim Yeo. Here is the scan of a letter sent from Babergh District Council to Tim Yeo (PDF, 1.2MB), which says they will carry out an EIA screening. Frankly, they should have done this properly years ago. But it's good to have such high-level support.
Oh... and we're thinking of having a picnic or similar social event on Saturday 4th September 2010, to get to meet supporters and families and to celebrate the work we have done so far. Let us know if you have any ideas.
8th August 2010: Scrutiny Committee: At least they discussed the issues!
The Scrutiny Committee Meeting on 4th August considered the Executive's decision to sell Kiln Meadow.
The committee can make one of three decisions:-
The scrutiny committee consisted of six Labour councillors, and seven Tory/LibDems including the chair. So I think you know the result. The Tory/libDems voted robotically, the decision was immediately ratified, I expect they signed the sale an hour after the meeting.
However, the meeting was significantly different from the executive - there was some opposition! Who actually took their scrutinising responsibilities seriously and asked lots of questions.
The Tory/LibDems didn't ask any pertinent questions, as far as I recall, and made one or two irrelevant, misleading or incorrect statements and voted like puppets. Perhaps we should send them a definition of the word 'scrutiny' One of them probably couldn't even spell it. And one or two nearly nodded off. The quote of the day was Liz Harsant's - this is our council leader, who chaired the exec comm meeting - statement that she had no idea what the impact of development would be on the wildlife of Kiln Meadow! She didn't know and didn't care. Though her husband, Cllr Russell Harsant, treated us to a little diversion into his back garden and the squirrells and foxes therein.
What particularly angered many of us was that Nigel Cheeseman and Mary Young both voted to ratify the decision. Mr Cheeseman was actually a member of the 'Save Kiln Meadow' Facebook Site at the time, and Mary Young has expressed her support for wildlife to me when she sought my vote (I have told her not to bother next time).
When we next vote for Ipswich councillors, we must remember the casual contempt with which the Tory/LibDems have treated democracy and the views of the people of Ipswich.
So to the future of Kiln Meadow - we can't immediately stop the sale. There is a strong rumour that the developer is Redrow Homes, but we won't know for sure until the detailed planning permission is submitted to Babergh District Council. At which point we will contest it if we can. There were certainly irregularities in the outline planning permission.
And today - is this how we have to spend a summer Sunday? - the SKiM committee are writing witness statements for the legal case - we are applying for leave to have a judicial review of Ipswich's decision. The evidence seems very clear that for two years now we have been lobbying IBC, telling them about their responsibilities under NERC Act 2006. They have consistently ignored this and fobbed us off, refused permission to conduct our own surveys, and shown contempt for the NERC Act and wildlife and public opinion.
As Cllr Sandy Martin said at the meeting, the NERC Act is a law of the land. The council 'must have regard for biodiversity'. IBC can't ignore this law because they don't like it.
If you have any correspondence from the council or councillors relevant and useful as evidence for this case, please let us know. You can contact Jen at 07879844939
We've made several "Freedom of Information" requests to clarify what ecological advice IBC took prior to making it's decision. It turns out that IBC didn't consult the County Ecologist or Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
22nd July 2010: The BBC Radio Suffolk news at 5pm this afternoon covered the sale of Kiln Meadow - listen on BBC iPlayer, including interviews with Dr Simone Bullion (Suffolk Wildlife Trust) and Cllr John Carnall (IBC). Jump to "0:57.44" for the summary and "1:07.20" for the interviews.
However it was really disappointing that Cllr John Carnall made such inaccurate and misleading statements (our view highlighted):
"We have been in negotiations with a number of developers and they are all very experienced in dealing with wildlife issues." - In our experience, developers are very experienced in circumventing the legislation designed to protect wildlife
"Whilst I recognise that many toads move across the site from an adjacent wood to nearby water. Independent studies show about 90% of the toads that cross the site each year use the part of the site that will be left as open space. I am confident that the vast majority of the other toads will work there around or through the development therefore I am please the proposals provide extensive protection for the toads." - The 90% figure is based on a very dubious calculation using the counts from The Bobbits Lane Toad Patrol. He has no evidence to support his claim that the toads are living in Spring Wood - IBC hasn't carried out any surveys of toads. We're sure that many toads live in Kiln Meadow itself for much of the year. In order to have confidence about the impact of the development, you need to have scientific survey results.
"The land is not subject to any particular protection and that toads not a protected species" - Kiln Meadow is now a proposed County Wildlife Site. Common toads (Bufo bufo) are a 'species which is of principal importance for the conservation of biodiversity in England' (also known as Biodiversity Action Plan priority species) - more details on the Natural England website. Planning Policy Statement 9 (PPS9) says '16. Other species have been identified as requiring conservation action as species of principal importance for the conservation of biodiversity in England. Local authorities should take measures to protect the habitats of these species from further decline through policies in local development documents. Planning authorities should ensure that these species are protected from the adverse effects of development, where appropriate, by using planning conditions or obligations. Planning authorities should refuse permission where harm to the species or their habitats would result unless the need for, and benefits of, the development clearly outweigh that harm.'
22nd July 2010: Another long update - apologies but we do like to keep people informed (unlike some of our elected representatives!)
In short,
Legal Action against IBC
Proceedings leading to a judicial review have been initiated. If this is as new to you as it is to us, well, it's where we ask a judge to look at how IBC made the decision to sell. It includes the law, and if they are breaking it, and also whether they followed correct procedures, including adequate documentation, not making their mind up beforehand etc.
So we need any evidence - emails and letters - complaints, responses, comments, etc. from IBC to you. If you have any info, please forward it to us. Our solicitor has stressed the importance of indicating a lot of public opinion around this, and evidence of their mishandling of this. Making up their mind beforehand is a big no no,so if you any email or letter that suggests that this happened, let us know as as possible.
The minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting have been issued. You can find them on the IBC website along with all the papers for the meeting. Those who were there are very angry at the significant deficit of honesty and democracy in the proceedings and in the minutes. If you were there, please submit complaints to the Council's monitoring officer, Claire Barnitt, and copy responses to me so that we can use them for the legal case and an ombudsman case. Be as specific as you can, not vaguely 'it was wrong'!
Scrutiny Committee
The executive decision has been 'called in', which means it will be reviewed by the scrutiny committee. The meeting is set for Wednesday 4th August, 6p.m., at Grafton House. Unfortunately the SWT expert, whose submission was ignored by the executive, will be on holiday. But some of us will be giving evidence. The scrutiny committee can either send it back to the executive (I guess then it will be a rubber stamp job) or refer it to the full council, when we would be in with a chance of delaying the sale until surveys have been done and SWT and the county ecologist consulted and their advice taken.
The public (that means us) can attend. Please come along if you can, to be a witness.
The executive meeting last week opened our eyes; lots of strange things happened/didn't happen, to my mind the minutes are severely deficient...but if only six of us to complain they can ignore it. But 20, or 30...
Babergh District Council - the Second Front
IBC executive hoped to hand over the responsibility for sorting out this mess to Babergh. Who have a very poor record - remember they were the ones who didn't talk to SWT when granting outline planning permission, and ignored SWT's email about the toad population.
So even though they have a policy of not allowing development on proposed County Wildlife Sites, and Kiln Meadow has been proposed as such, (hooray!), I don't trust BDC planners to resist the advances of a determined developer. So we need to lobby and get what assurances we can, and to build up evidence to challenge detailed plans which could be submitted any time now.
Fortunately, we have some every determined supporters who are starting to do this and already getting results - but every letter, email, conversation with councillors, letter to the press, helps.
Thanks for supporting the campaign, and patience in ploughing through this!
If you have anything to tell us, or want any info,
ring 07879844939.
13th July 2010: Kiln Meadow to be Sold, Developed, Destroyed
IBC's executive decided this evening to sell Kiln Meadow. This is without knowing where the toads live, feed and hibernate. They have abdicated their responsibilty under NERC 2006, have gone against recent government statements about the importance of wildlife, and against the spirit of Europens Law. It was a sad occassion.
The one bright moment was when Cllr Inga Lockington spoke against the proposal, her bravery,honesty and commitment to principle was in sharp contrast to the frankly, ignorance, and lack of understanding shown by other members of the executive. She did not vote in favour of the sale. She wasn't given the chance to vote against!
To call this democracy is ..... I just can't say.
The campaign goes on.
12th July 2010: IBC have provided us with the Interim Report from the ecological consultants who are carrying out surveys on IBC's behalf.
10th July 2010: Act NOW to Save Kiln Meadow - Sale imminent
Deadline: 13th July. Under sentence of Death: 6.889 Toads
Contact the IBC Executive now to say how you feel about the imminent sale of Kiln Meadow - click here for the names and email addresses of Executive members.
The three main issues are:
The executive meet on 13th July, at 6 p.m to make a decision to sell Kiln Meadow - see the proposal that they will be discussing. John Carnall has already made up his mind that this will happen, so we must convince the other members of the executive to reject the proposal.
So if you can do nothing else, email the executive and say 'Please do not sell Kiln Meadow'
If you have a bit more time and energy, explain why you think it should not be sold. If any of these people are your local councillors, talk to them. There is plenty of information in the documentation below. But one major point is this: John Carnall has been telling the media that IBC will sell the land but preserve the toad population. The proposal does not explain how they can save the toads if they have no idea of where they live, feed and migrate!
The public can attend the Executive Meeting at 6pm at Grafton House - so turn up to hear them sell our wildlife off to the highest bidder.
Recent media coverage includes:
5th July 2010: We've had a great response to our petition on the future of Kiln Meadow, Belstead Brook Park - over 800 people have signed the petition asking IBC not to sell Kiln Meadow. We presented the petition to Councillor Paul West today at Grafton House:
(click on photo to see more photos)
The East Anglian Daily times published an article on Saturday about Kiln Meadow: Protesters step up homes row
BBC Radio Suffolk featured Kiln Meadow on Mark Murphy's breakfast show this morning: listen again
(SKiM's Ray Sidaway 0:41.00 - 0:47.00, Councillor John Carnall 1:42.00 - 1:49.00)
3rd June 2010:
Read the briefing document that we sent to all IBC Councillors following the recent council elections.
Ask your councillors if they have read the briefing document, and what their view is - see people to contact. Let them know how you feel about IBC selling your wildlife heritage and ask them to oppose the sale.
Following Ray's apearance (is that the right word?) on Ipswich Community Radio, the Save Kiln Meadow Facebook group has really taken off - have a look.
Ipswich Borough Council have told us that they will make a decision about the sale of Kiln Meadow, Belstead Brook Park, on 13th July.
It still amazes me that IBC can think of selling this site, in the middle of a great wildlife area, probably destroying the largest recorded population of toads in the country. It's our heritage - and it will be trashed. Why can't they sell some of the Constable paintings in the art gallery since they are so desparate for cash? At least the paintings, if sold, won't be destroyed.
Also, do write to the press, tell your neighbours, colleagues and friends about the campaign and get them to sign the petition and contact their councillors. This may be our last chance.
It's the last push - please do what you can to Save Kiln Meadow!'
You can contact us on
Tell councillors and MPs of your concern:
Write, phone, talk to the press, your friends, councillors, senior council officials, ... - see people to contact
The key people to contact are Liz Harsant (Leader of IBC) and Russell Williams (Acting IBC Chief Executive).
Please report any interesting observations of wildlife especially Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species to the Suffolk Biological Records Office . Sightings of rare wildlife in Kiln Meadow would be particularly valuable for building our case.
If you're walking in or near Kiln Meadow and see workmen in the meadow, let us know!
Join our mailing list so that we can keep you up-to-date with developments - contact Jen Jousiffe: 07879844939.
The Guardian published an editorial 'In Praise of Toads'. We agree!
Contact Jen Jousiffe: 07879844939