A brief update on the SPA. It’s short for the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area, which is a government and EU policy to limit housing and building development with the objective to protect rare lowland heathland habitats. To understand more about the SPA you can read my earlier posts, Lightwater & the Thames Basin Heaths SPA, HERE and HERE.
The effect of the SPA has been to severely limit housing development in the borough.
Enough background. The affected boroughs formed a Thames Basin Heaths Joint Strategic Partnership Board [JSPB]. This board has produced a Delivery Framework, which borough councils will be adopting.
The Delivery Framework describes the avoidance measures from the effect of development, based on three principles – creation of SANGs [sites of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace], access management, and habitat management.
The Delivery Framework document is a step forward. But, oh don’t things take a long time to sort out. If you’re really interested in this topic, the JSPB web pages offer plenty of reading matter. Up to you.
Still some way to go, methinks.
If the creation of SANGs is an important issue at the moment, would this increase the chances of coming up with a more appropriate crossing for the A322 between the heart of Lightwater (and a brand new development I might add) and the Windlesham Arboretum?
Crossing four lanes of traffic, often at well above the national speed limit, is neither safe nor acceptable for the varied age groups of Lightwater.
By: Alan on July 2, 2009
at 4:46 pm
Alan,
Spot on idea. Make Windlesham Arboretum a SANG, and use developer money to improve car parking in Lightwater and a footbridge across the A322 to get to it. Now why didn’t I think of that?
By: timdodds on July 2, 2009
at 6:54 pm
Well I have been banging on about it since I rediscovered the Arboretum a few years back. I wrote several letters to the planning people during the approval process for the Grayshott Place development but I was either ignored or told the council thought it more important to use the developers’ money to put another crossing on the Guildford Road, so we may have missed that opportunity.
But as it is such a god idea and all, how do we go about raising its profile and making steps towards achieving it?
By: Alan on July 3, 2009
at 9:19 am
[...] myself chipping in with a really stout defence of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area mitigation strategy, which doesn’t seem to have total [...]
By: My first Countryside Access Forum « Lightwater on July 21, 2009
at 12:00 pm
We do not need any development thankyou-and nobody crosses the A322, so why squander money to appease the fantasy of some.
The arboretum is a special place and is supposed to be secret to keep hordes of the great unwashed away-we do not wnat any kind of development thankyou.
By: david eppel on August 22, 2009
at 10:34 am
I’m not sure what you mean by ’supposed to be secret’. There are public footpaths that run through the Arboretum. Also, it is featured on the BBC Southern Counties website
I access it by foot crossing the A322 as I know do others, who I’m sure like me respect the pleasures it offers. I hope you don’t think it’s solely for your enjoyment, a somewhat churlish attitude.
By: timdodds on August 22, 2009
at 2:15 pm