Buglife‘s three-year battle to save West Thurrock Marshes from destruction has suffered a massive set-back when the Court of Appeal judged that the decision to build on the site was lawful.
Buglife took Thurrock Development Corporation to Court on the grounds that it had failed to protect the Marshes – rated as one of the three most important sites for endangered wildlife in the country with 17 protected species. The proposed warehouses and car parks will destroy up to 70% of the flower-rich habitat, home to many of these species including the Brown-banded carder bee. The case is the first legal test of recent biodiversity protection laws.
Matt Shardlow, Buglife Director said “This is a disappointing decision which reveals the inadequacy of our current wildlife protection. What right do we have to ask other countries to protect their rainforests or coral reefs while we continue to destroy the most valuable habitats of our own endangered species? The Government must act now to strengthen its biodiversity legislation and halt the worsening loss of wildlife”.
The decision is also a setback for a flagship Government initiative which recently identified Thurrock Marshes as one of 22 new green parks for the UK’s first ‘eco-region’. The Thames Gateway Parklands scheme is the brainchild of Sir Terry Farrell, one of the world’s foremost architects.
Buglife now faces legal costs of £30,000.
West Thurrock Marshes on the banks of the river Thames in south Essex is home to over 1,300 species of invertebrate, including 36 species in the Red Data Book, and seventeen of the Government’s priority conservation species. Only Windsor Great Park and the internationally protected Dungeness shingles are known to support more rare and endangered species – and at just over 20 hectares West Thurrock Marshes is a fraction of their size.