A message from Stop The Shaft Chairman
Our Save Barn Elms petition is being submitted to lawyers on Tuesday 16th August. We have just a few days for supporters to register their objection to Barn Elms playing fields and surrounding area being used as a main construction site for the ‘Super Sewer’. Please encourage anyone that you know who has yet to sign the petition to visit www.stoptheshaft.org to register their objection.
We need as much public support as possible for our campaign – public opinion is of huge importance in influencing Thames Water’s decision. Barn Elms was the most opposed of all the proposed construction sites for the first phase of public consultation and we hope to maintain this status. We were successful in March in persuading Thames Water to consider alternative industrial brownfield sites and they are currently assessing Carnwath Road in South Fulham. Their final decision will be announced in September and this is one of our last chances to influence the decision and have our voice heard.
Please forward this page (URL) to friends, family and anyone with an interest in preserving London’s precious green spaces. Our website address is www.stoptheshaft.org and there is a link to our online petition on the home page.
If Thames Water go ahead with their proposal to use Barn Elms as a ‘main drive shaft’ site the impact would be enormous:
- A large area of the sports field and the boat house, currently used by over 30 schools from 10 different boroughs, 40 sports clubs and 3 universities would be lost during the 7 years of construction.
- A road (wide enough for 30 tonne lorries to pass in both directions) would need to be built across the playing fields from the construction site near the river to one of the nearby public roads.
- A vast jetty (currently estimated by Thames Water to be 200m long) would need to be built to accommodate industrial barge traffic. This would potentially be a safety hazard for the many rowers and sailors of all ages using this part of the river all year round.
- The towpath alongside the river, one of London’s most popular walks and used by up to 10,000 people in summer weekends, would likely be diverted away from the river and around the back of the vast construction site. Trees may need felling and industrial conveyor belts built overhead to transport excavated spoil from the construction site to the jetty.
- The site sits next door to the London Wetlands Centre, ‘the best urban wildlife site in Europe’ and forms part of an important green corridor stretching to Richmond Park and beyond. The construction would be disruptive to the ecology of this area and harm the habitats of a multitude of creatures including rare bat species.
Thank you very much for your support to date, it means a huge amount. Together we will Save Barn Elms!
Sian Baxter
Chairman, Stop the Shaft
SAVE BARN ELMS
August 17, 2011