Yesterday two visitors to the marsh, artists Stephen Vince and Peter Rudolfo who will be joining our Reclaim the Marsh Celebration, witnessed and photographed cables being laid in a section of Sandy Lane not given planning permission for development.
At this time, the ODA (in a plan agreed with the LVRPA) are ostensibly restoring the marsh as ‘closely as possible’ to its original condition; they have given up peddling the lie that it can be restored to its original condition which it seems was a phrase solely manufactured for the media to establish consent.
However, the fact that they are doing the following suggests at best inappropriate knowledge of a sensitive ecological location and at worst, a cynical preparation for future development of our marsh:
1) The use of recycled construction waste, normally used beneath heavy loads such as road structures, to form a subsoil base. This is composed of concrete dust and bricks. It does not support living organisms and has the pH of 12 (similar to domestic bleach).
2) The use of a membrane between the soil and the subsoil layer in order to “assist future excavation”.
3) The laying of cabling underneath the marsh. For what purpose have cables been laid? Why was this not outlined in the reinstatement plan and why have the LVRPA agreed to it?
Please send us in any photographic evidence of the construction works underway at the marshes to saveleytonmarsh@hotmail.co.uk