Wildlife Conservation Issues
The purpose of this page is to explore any issues affecting the conservation of wildlife in our area i.e. from Portchester in the west north to Denmead, west to Chalton and south to the coast around Nutbourne Bay. If you are concerned about an issue that might interest other send me an e mail (click here). I will restrict topics to those affecting conservation and excluding those which are more amenity related.
Havant Thicket Water Storage Reservoir
Click on the map to see it full size.
Portsmouth Water plan to create a reservoir on land they
own mainly south of Havant Thicket which is currently mainly low quality grass
land. There
are however a few bits of nice woodland including particularly
the Avenue north of Staunton Country Park. The reservoir is thought to be
needed to supply water in the years ahead as more industrial and residential
development occurs in Hampshire Sussex and Surrey. There will also be
effects on demand and the available supply due to global warming.
It is the latter which is at present under debate between Portsmouth water and OFWAT and has caused a hold up in the planning.
So far there have been very extensive public consultations and environmental studies carried out prior to any planning application. There will be loss of habitat for some reptiles, breeding lapwings that have recently colonised one of the fields that will be flooded and more worrying bats including some rarities.
There might be an issue over the flow of freshwater into Langstone Harbour. The reservoir will be filled by pumping water from the Havant and Bedhampton springs in the winter when usually there is a surplus flowing into the harbour. So far no clear evidence has been found to clarify the likely effects on the harbour.
The current situation is as follows - copied from a Portsmouth Water newsletter
FINAL WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN
PUBLISHED
The Secretary of State has given permission to Portsmouth
Water to publish its Final Water Resources Management Plan subject to;
• Incorporating all previous changes made to the draft
plan.
• The Company including a commitment to work with the
Environment Agency and other stakeholders in conducting a further
review of the key assumptions which will be needed in time
for the next Water Resources Management Plan (draft scheduled
for 2014).
The final plan was published on 2 September 2011 and sets
out the key elements which will ensure that the Company is able to
continue to maintain supplies to customers for the next 25
years.
• A compulsory metering programme utilising automatic
meter reading (AMR) technology over a 15 year period from 2015-2030.
• A programme of leakage savings delivering a 3Ml/d
leakage reduction between 2015 and 2020.
• The construction of a Washwater Recovery Plant at
Farlington Water Treatment Works in 2017/18.
• The development of Havant Thicket Winter Storage
Reservoir (HTWSR) filled by surplus yield from the Company’s Havant and
Bedhampton Springs between 2025 and 2035
The Company has invited a number of stakeholders to join a
group to promote better understanding and communication during
the preparation of the next plan. It is the intention to
publish minutes of the group meetings and a newsletter giving an update
on the progress of the plan on the Company website.
More information, including a copy of the final plan, or a
copy of a summary document, can be found by visiting
http://www.portsmouthwater.co.uk/home.aspx to find the link on our home
page.
Vulnerable Open Spaces in Portsmouth: Have Your Say!
We all enjoy going for a walk in our
local park.
But how can you help to show how much you value your
parks? How can you highlight what you like and dislike about these places? And
how much you would be willing to do to protect
these spaces from real risks, such as flooding? Have a look at
http://www.openspaces-portsmouth.org.uk and
read further!
I am a PhD student from London
Metropolitan University, doing a research project about how users value green
spaces in Portsmouth.
Using a variety of surveying techniques
(face-to-face questionnaires,
internet-based surveys and stalls at the Summer
Fair), I am investigating the best way that people can make their opinions heard
on issues that affect them and their favourite parks and open spaces.
Also, the North Solent Shoreline Management Plan
highlighted the long-term risk to areas of Portsmouth from flooding.
How much would you willing to protect your local
open spaces from such risks?
If you use parks in Portsmouth (particularly the Farlington
Marshes, Milton Common and Southsea Common), you might have recently seen me
with my clipboard, asking questions on this subject to visitors in a 15 minute
questionnaire. I have received very positive feedback about the survey and I
have to say, people in Portsmouth are really happy to talk about their parks and
how much they value them. So, if you see me one of these days, please come over
and say hello!
However nice it is to spend the day
talking to local residents in the open air, I think talking about parks, and how
valuable they are, should not be only offered to those who have the time to
visit them. And Portsmouth has so many parks (68 in total!) that I cannot visit
them all.
So that is why I decided to expand my surveys to other
places that could help me to meet more people - through an internet survey and
at 2011 Portsmouth Summer Fair.
My online survey is based on Google
Maps technology, which (hopefully) makes it easy to visualise the parks in
Portsmouth and provide easy-to-understand information regarding flood risk in
the area.
Everyone can take part today!
If you are willing to share your own experiences of
your use of parks in Portsmouth and how much they mean to you, please access
this website:
www.openspaces-portsmouth.org.uk
to access my online Internet survey and some further explanation about my
project.
And please, send it to as many people in Portsmouth as you
can, so that as many people as possible can make their opinions heard.
Finally, in June of this year, the
Portsmouth Climate Action Network were kind enough to let me have a stall during
the Summer Fair in June, which was a great opportunity for me to meet more
people and to talk about my research.
I hope to see some of you there next year at the
2012 Festival!
Even if you don’t have time to take
part in my surveys, I am happy to hear about people’s experiences of their local
parks.
So please, reach me through
www.openspaces-portsmouth.org.uk if you have
any comments or queries regarding my project.
Hélène Draux, PhD
student
http://www.openspaces-portsmouth.org.uk/
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