Development [1]: Alan Titchmarsh criticises charity over Kent holiday lodge plans for wildlife park near Hythe [2]
Posted by editor on Dec 05, 2011 - 06:40 AM
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Chat show host and former TV gardener, Alan Tichmarsh, has denounced
plans by the Aspinall Foundation to uproot 24 trees to make way for
tourist lodges at its Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Lympne near Hythe. |
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Mr Titchmarsh in reported in the Sunday Express saying: "I’m very
saddened. We should do everything possible to protect our green belt
from development. Once changed, it is lost to us for ever."
The Aspinall Foundation, which works with zoos around the world breeding
endangered species and returning them to the wild, has asked Shepway
District Council for permission to clear sycamore, ash and pine trees
from a field next to the park.
The plan is to build 20 lodges, a restaurant, storage facilities and a
car park.
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park has already erected a small number of lodges in another area of
the site and plans initially to build a further 10.
Campaigners against the proposals claim the land is a haven for bats,
field mice and hedgehogs.
Wildlife Park managing director Bob O’Conner reportedly said: "In this
economic climate we need to diversify to ensure we can continue our
fundraising."
Read the full story in the Express here
Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast
News 2011©
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Comments
I am flaggergasted that they should do such a thing. I believe it only goes to prove they care nothing for conservation.
I wrote to Damian Aspinal about the plans to build up around Folkestone and Hythe and I didn't even get the dignity of an answer
Enough is enough Shepway you are fools to grant this venture approval
Another nail in the coffin......
Let's be realistic. The Aspinall Foundation does much work to save endangered species and must be encouraged. If the trees are ash and sycamore, they grow quickly and abundantly, and pine may well be non-indigenous. If they were a slow-growing, indigenous species like oak I would object. In this case I do not.
Simple solution - plant replacement trees elsewhere on the animal park.
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