SAVE BAGLAN MOORS SITE
Update - we spoke to soon!
Below, from the horizontal line, is information about a site in Baglan Moors that the Badger Group and other members of the Local Biodiversity Forum
tried to save from development. Initially we suceeded and the site was allocated as a Lapwing reserve by the WDA, working also with the local authority.
In addition to protecting the Lapwings, the site at Baglan Moors is also home to a wide variety of species.
However, since writing below of our success the local authority has included the area in the UDP (Unitary Development Plan) for development, and
recently a planning application for development has been submitted. When we visited the site in February 2008, initial work
at the site had already started. The Biodiversity Forum has expressed to the local authority its great disappointment that an
important wildlife site is being destroyed, once again to make room for more development.
The vision of the Local Biodiversity Action Plan is to 'save' such sites as the one in Baglan Moors, but again the local authority (a partner in
the biodiversity framework as is the WDA) has demonstrated its indifference to such issues, and again supports the developer - not the local
wildlife groups it's supposed to champion.
GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO WILDLIFE!
Background
Around 30 years ago most of Baglan Moors in Port Talbot (South Wales) was natural habitat which
supported a wide variety of wildlife. Since then nearly all of it has been
destroyed by development of housing and industrial units. The first
stages of development involved clearing work and laying of core materials. Today,
only one substantial site remains without buildings, or planned buildings,
within it.
Over a period of years this site, next to the Panasonic factory,
has been reclaimed by nature. Trees, shrubs, wild flowers and grasses once again grow
there in abundance, even natural ponds have developed within the site.
This has resulted in the area once again becoming a rich habitat which supports a
wide variety of fauna, including fox, hedgehog, vole, lapwing, snipe, butterfly, frog and tadpole.
Our Aims
Our main aim is to save this habitat before it is destroyed forever by further
development of industrial units. Flora and fauna have been allowed to re-establish itself
within the site while developers were sought over the years.
It would be
a tragedy indeed if once again the wildlife of Baglan Moors, or rather what's left,
is displaced and destroyed, particularly after so many species have been allowed
to find refuge and re-establish itself against all the odds. Hopefully, our
efforts will result in the habitat being designated as a Nature Reserve.
Only then will the habitat, and the species that rely on it, be guaranteed
a sanctuary from the constant pressure forced upon it to date.
The Benefits
Saving the habitat would have many benefits, not only to wildlife, but also
to the local community as a whole. Example opportunities include:
Many of the above benefits and opportunites, and some not mentioned, would significantly help the local authority to meet specific requirements and objectives of the Agenda 21 treaty, in regard of the Borough's Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP - see below).
The Strategy
The habitat site is already earmarked for industrial development under the
draft Local Plan. Our strategy here is to submit objections
and suggestions to the local authority regarding the future of the habitat.
Hopefully, the issues raised will be considered by the authority in its
preparation of the new Unitary Development Plan which, at the
time of writing, is going through its final processes.
Many organisations and agents within the LBAP Forum (see below) are being approached to perform
surveys of the site to ascertain the extent of the biodiversity that currently
exists in the habitat. From this data a report will be compiled and submitted
to the local authority for consideration. It is also planned to publicise
our objective via local media involvement. One step already instigated is the
development of this web site page to bring about awareness on a wider scale.
There is also a petition in action which will be submitted to the local authority
soon.
LOCAL BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN (LBAP)
INTRODUCTION - AGENDA 21 and BIODIVERSITY
Aganda 21 is a process agreed in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992
by some 150 nations across the World. It is intended to address the problems
experienced by the global environment by people acting locally. It is also
intended to give the peoples of the world the right to a reasonable quality
of life and to have a say in what happens to their localities.
To take the initiative forward in the UK each Local Authority area has been
asked to develop a plan by the end of the year 2001. This should take
on board local people's views and aim to reduce pollution and waste, while
increasing reuse and recycling, saving energy and conserving wildlife and
natural resources. As part of this plan, each local authority in the UK
is developing, or have already developed, a Local Biodiversity Action Plan
(LBAP) aimed to conserve local species and habitats.
LOCAL BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN
FOR NEATH PORT TALBOT COUNTY BOROUGH
Vision Statement:
The richness of our wildlife in Wales is widely celebrated, yet areas
such as Neath Port Talbot are often associated more closely in people's minds
with heavy industry and mining communities. This does a great disservice
to the incredible variety of habitats and wild creatures which also occupy
our County Borough. The aim of the local biodiversity action plan is to
turn that perception around as to:
Broad Objectives:
The local biodiversity action plan is based on specific objectives that
are considered to be essential for the aims of the plan to be accomplished,
these objectives aim to: