Plans for Portsmouth ‘super peninsula’ should be binned not backed, say wildlife charities - Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
4000 new homes and new marine hub would rip up internationally important wildlife site and tear a hole through legal safeguards
Development could destroy vital line of natural defence against rising sea levels, meaning the public will pay over decades to keep new homes above water.
Portsmouth people set to lose vital part of their natural heritage - “the nature equivalent of a developer proposing to demolish the city’s historic dockyard and sink the HMS Victory”
Wildlife charities are today calling for a major development to be stopped. The proposal is to locate 4000 new houses and a 1 million sq ft marine hub on the western edge of Portsea Island at Tipner West.
The RSPB and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT) say that the development will destroy parts of the harbour that are vital for nature and valuable for the city’s long-term sustainability.
However, despite very clear environmental impacts, the city council has recently given the green light to spend approximately £8m to move forward to the planning application stage.
Nick Bruce-White, RSPB Operations Director for Southern England said, “This is one of the most significant threats to wildlife from a development we have seen in recent times, not just locally, but nationally. Portsmouth Harbour is of international importance, especially for its wintering waterbirds, such as brent geese, black tailed godwits and other wading birds. The development will utterly destroy vital feeding and roosting grounds as well as causing long-term disturbance to any wildlife that remains.”
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Posted On: 12/11/2020