Natural England’s Tony Juniper visits the Welsh Harp

Yesterday Natural England’s chair, Tony Juniper accepted Cool Oak founder, Ben Watt’s invitation and visited Brent Reservoir (Welsh Harp) for the first time since he ringed birds there in the 1980s. It represented a big day in the history of the Cool Oak campaign.

Natural England is the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England. It also referees the upkeep and laws protecting Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) of which the Welsh Harp is one of the oldest in England. Natural England has the power to influence ecological action taken by owners.

During the two-hour walkabout, Tony Juniper viewed the recent east marsh improvements; the ongoing trash screen and water quality crisis caused by the Environment Agency’s underfunding, Thames Water’s poor management of sewage, and Barnet Council’s inability to contain fly-tipping; and the site for the planned 186m footbridge across the protected SSSI north marsh wetlands approved by Barnet Council.

The planned bridge is a hot topic. We are very happy that Tony saw at first-hand the true scale of the damage it will cause if it goes ahead. Natural England still have right of veto over the ecological mitigation measures that must be offered by the developer in compensation before construction can start, and Tony was in agreement that those measures must now take into consideration not just the small area around the bridge, but the vast surrounding area of neglected SSSI wetlands that was misrepresented as worthless woodland in the planning process.

It goes without saying that less environmental destruction, biodiversity loss and cost escalation would result from moving or scrapping the bridge.