Dear Neighbour
First the model aircraft enthusiasts were told to leave. Then a children’s cycling club had their fee per session raised from £48 to £500. Subsequently, a large area of land in the centre of where The Jockey Club plan to build 1500 dwellings was bulldozed flat. Here is Kempton Park’s explanation:
I can confirm that as part of the on-going feasibility studies a contractor has been carrying out clearance of ruderal vegetation (nettles, hemlock etc). The principle objective is to enable access to trees for a comprehensive tree survey and to identify any areas of Japanese Knotweed. These works reflect our on-going management of this area and have not included works within the Kempton Park Reservoirs SSSI located to the north east of the site.
A recent ecological survey of the area undertaken prior to the commencement of clearance works identified an area containing Japanese Knotweed, this area was not included in recent works thereby avoiding risk of spread within the park or to a wider area. The law states that it is an offence to cause Japanese knotweed to spread and therefore we are taking all necessary steps to eradicate the knotweed on site and will be employing a licence contractor to eradicate any knotweed identified. The clearance of the previous year’s dead stems during the winter is standard practice in order to facilitate access for herbicide application during the spring/ summer.
The clearance works are now complete and have been carried out in the winter months, on the advice of our consultant ecologists in order to avoid impacts on nesting birds. We are regretful of any concern that this may have caused you and local residents but we believe this is the most appropriate approach, with the onset of spring the visual appearance of these works will diminish significantly.
And now it seems not even the swans are safe:
Spelthorne Council have put the draft Statement of Community Involvement out for consultation ( see
https://keepkemptongreen.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/statement-of-community-involvement-spelthorne-2015-consultation-draft.pdf )
This document is very important. Once finalised, it will determine how residents will be involved in the Review of our Local Plan, and the ongoing management of planning applications for the next decade or more.
We are preparing a response to this draft, for which we will have to engage a specialist solicitor, to make sure we have the public and planning law dealing with Community Involvement in planning matters precisely correct.
We have found the best solicitor we can find whose fees are not onerous. We regret having to call upon you all again, but there are things we just cannot do, with the best will in the world. Thank you very much to those who have already contributed. £450 is what we still need to raise.
LOSRA (the Lower Sunbury Residents Association) have kindly offered to receive and account for donations to this campaign. LOSRA have been around for more than 40 years, and have impeccable credentials with regard to accountability and reliability.
If you would like to donate to the cause using PayPal, please click here. This will take you straight through to the LOSRA website’s home page. Scroll down and click on the button on the right: “Donate to the Keep Kempton Green Fund“.
If you would like to donate by cheque, please make your cheque payable to LOSRA and send it to:
20 Green Street, Sunbury, TW16 6RN
Alternatively, donations can be deposited directly into the LOSRA bank account set up for this purpose:
Barclays Bank
Account name: LOSRA
Sort Code: 20-46-73
Account number: 8341 3934
As you would expect, the identity of all donors will be kept confidential.
If you haven’t signed the petition already, please do so. This was why this petition was set up in the first place – to get the backing of as many of you as possible for the Council to involve us all – properly – in the Review of our Local Plan. Please go to:
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/keepkemptongreen
Kind regards
Keep Kempton Green
Keep Kempton Green 