Gwyneth's personal blog

Sunday 15th September, four o' clock in the afternoon, the sky's darkening and the branches are tossing, I think the tail of that storm is finally about to arrive. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions, Am I going to return a response to the new Defra consultation on "biodiversity offsetting" (aka, the license to trash law) that can currently be found on "Citizen Space"? I believe I will. I find I'm as suspicious of this pretty-sounding term as I was the first time I heard it, and I seem to be a member of several of the groups who are very quietly being asked to give their opinion. It'll be a chore, but I think I've grasped the basics, and I know where to get help. The RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, and others are providing guidance. If you are interested in this issue, I urge you to give the consultation form a go. How can the government know that woodlands, meadows and little brown birds (whether skylarks or nightingales) have the power to vote, unless a few people take the trouble to tell them so, and keep telling them so, for as long as we can? The Medway Core Strategy link is by way of giving you a taste of the language. Consultation is open now and until November.

https://consult.defra.gov.uk/biodiversity/biodiversity_offsetting

http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?cate=__14753

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/living-landscape/planning/biodiversity-offsetting

http://saveourwoods.co.uk/articles/nppf/biodiversity-offsetting-permits-previously-rejected-housing-development

Yes, I know that consultations are not meant to give me a voice, they're meant to shut me up. I know that on the day before Cuadrilla was obliged to withdraw its current planning application, for horizontal drilling at Balcombe, the government launched a "consultation" aimed at getting the law that was in the extreme energy lobby's way changed. Just like that. . . But you work with what you have, not what you don't have. I'll still return that response.