Objection

Summary

1. Plan ignores needs and wishes of Scraptoft community.
2. Significant impact on wildlife and environment, what provision is going to be made for the bat population?
3. Dangers of prison of war camp residue.
4. Scraptoft brook over flow.
5. Increased traffic flow through the village.


Discussion

The proposed plan has totally ignored the needs, wishes and requirements of the local Scraptoft community that was developed over a period of some months.

Why are such local plans ignored?

There is no green wedge around Scraptoft, yet the green wedge is maintained around Thurnby and Bushby.

The proposed developments of the Scraptoft Nature Reserve have totally ignored the community's requirements. Why?

The reserve, it is proposed, should have its Local Nature Reserve status removed; this is not tenable as the status was pleased upon that area for a purpose and cannot be removed at will otherwise what was the pint of giving the area such a prestigious status in the first place? It is an ecological area of importance for wild life and environment. The area provides a corridor of safety and feeding areas for a wide range of wildlife and is part of the process of cleaning the air through the green leaf trees.

Just from our garden we get:

Bats - who feed and roost in the area, what provision is going to be made?
Snakes - use the area
Muntjac deer - are regular visitors along with Roe deer.
Butterflies - wide variety
Birds - a wide variety also Red Leg Partridge and Pheasants
Rabbits & Foxes
Hedge Hogs
Mice, voles
Dragonflies

All of the above come into our garden regularly and use the nature reserve as their base for habitat and feeding, in addition buzzards and kites often fly over and land in the area to feed. It is the best area for wildlife since the development of housing on the old Scraptoft Campus, the report from the County ecologist supports the retention of the Local Nature Reserve as a valuable site for wildlife.

The reserve is an old prisoner of war camp and as such has a variety of development problems that would have been considered before many years ago when it was proposed to build a crematorium, a report on the viability of development must have been drawn up and the proposal rejected due to probable hidden costs such as the remains of concrete bases, culverts and bunkers left over from the camp.

Scraptoft Brook - this brook has not been maintained and as such there are significant blockages such that the level of the silt has increased from only 1 inch to over 9 inches in the period of the building developments in the last 10 years. Extra discharge/water overflow would lead to gardens being flooded.

The proposed 100M corridor is insufficient to support the wildlife habitat and should not reduced from its current position it needs to be further back to the golf course practice/football field as a minimum.

There will be an increase in the traffic flow through the village to get to the Scraptoft Lane and Uppingham Road major access roads into the city. With the narrow roads through the village and the one-way system greater congestion will occur and feed onto the Uppingham road traffic light junction - which is already at capacity. Even if a new/enhanced road is developed along Keyham Lane west human beings what they are will look for a better rat run than the route proposed by the site developments, the road has several schools and house right onto the verge and is not suitable for the volume of traffic.

This development would reduce, if not remove, any type of green wedge around the village along with loss of habitat for wildlife.

Mr B E Barker
49 Hall Road
Scraptoft
Leicester
LE7 9SY

01162413889