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This is the July 2026 edition of the Save Lea Marshes Newsletter. As we reach peak holiday season, many people's usual holiday plans are beset by serious problems such as wars, wildfires and floods, and, if visiting other parts of Europe, the new, lesser problems of EC scanning procedures, which are causing delays, huge queues and missing flights. Staycations are also being affected by extreme heat and wildfires, and our own neighbourhoods in the Waltham Forest and Hackney areas have not been without worrying incidents caused by Climate Change and Nature Deprivation either, with recent fires along local railway tracks with litter being a likely cause.

SOME BETTER NEWS..

Against all odds, planning permission for the Spurs development of Whitewebbs Park in Enfield has been quashed by the High Court. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club lost its planning permission to develop a large part of the historic Whitewebbs Park. The Judge, Sir Timothy Kerr, found Enfield Council had misled the area planning committee and breached transparency provisions. The Guardians of Whitewebbs group and all their supporters are to be congratulated for their hard work and persistence. Spurs may appeal against the High Court's decision to the Court of Appeal, which it can do within an agreed deadline. For the full, heart-warming, story go to https://www.pilc.org.uk/blog/high-court-quashes-spurs-planning-permission-to-develop-whitewebbs-park/.

MAPPING SEWAGE PROJECT

Last weekend, members of Save Lea Marshes attended the second of a series of workshops being run by UCL East on the River Lea with the title of Spilling the Truth: Rethinking Storm Overflow Crisis Maps. The main purpose was to look at examples of existing maps and apps of storm and sewage overflows - e.g. those provided by the Environment Agency and Surfers Against Sewage - and make suggestions for how they could be improved from the public user/community organisation perspective. We found that the main problems are that such apps only show pollution at specific sampling points rather than along a watercourse's entire length and they do not show what the pollution consists of. They are also very swimmer oriented, with no regard to the effects of pollution on nature. The UCL East project is ongoing and the organisers hope to expand it into a funded project that will involve community groups.

ACTION UPDATES

Save Lea Marshes continues to regularly tackle ongoing issues. Recent examples include: water-quality monitoring, checking whether the temporary pump in the Middlesex Filter Beds is adding water to the marshier areas (for the last few weeks the pump has been more off than on..), and keeping a weather eye on the National Grid Works on Hackney and Leyton Marshes. After one of our members reported seeing a National Grid vehicle being driven dangerously and nearly colliding with a cyclist over Cow Bridge in Hackney, the Head of Hackney Parks took up the issue. We, and other organisations such as Millfields Users Group, also attended last week a community meeting organised by National Grid representatives to discuss their work and any issues. We raised the issue of staff cars being driven and parked on Hackney Marshes and Millfields Park. The NG representatives said at the meeting that security required them to park their cars close to the work sites but did respond positively to taking some action on this and recent monitoring visits show that the practice seems to have stopped. It was a shame that more local people didn't turn up for the meeting despite a mass mailing in the area.

GARDEN SURVEY

Organised by the National Garden Scheme, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCH), have an on-line citizen science survey for recording the hidden wildlife in your garden. This is open to everyone over 18, who has a garden, courtyard or balcony. Families may enter as long as an adult responds and completes the registration. The registration and process for uploading information are simple and details are kept confidential. If you would like to take part please visit https://esurveyor.ceh.ac.uk/national-garden-scheme/register-garden?tm_source=notes_on_nature_20260725&utm_medium=email&utm_term..

LOCAL AUTHOR REQUEST..

Local activist and historian Claire Weiss is compiling a biography of the late Katy Andrews (1958-2015) and welcomes being contacted by anyone who recalls aspects of Katy's extraordinary, impactful and creative life. Please contact Claire at claireweiss@hotmail.org, preferably no later that 31 August. For those who didn't know Katy, she was a founder member of the Save Leyton Marsh campaign, which preceded the setting up of Save Lea Marshes. She was also the driving force behind the New Lammas Lands Defence Committee. She was a very active campaigner locally and nationally as well as having many creative talents and outlets. Those of us who knew Katy are so delighted that Claire is writing about her and eagerly await the finished book.

DRAFT LONDON PLAN

The Mayor of London's Draft London Plan is now out for consultation. The GLA website has the plan to view and an online survey that can be completed. There will also be online sessions where the public can ask questions on the following dates and times: 11 August from 10.00 to 11.00 a.m., 13 August from 11.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m., 18 August from 4.00 to 5.00 p.m., 26 August from 10.00 to 11.00 a.m. and 27 August from 10.00 to 11.00 a.m. For further details see https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/planning/london-plan/next-london-plan/draft-london-plan-consultation

This month's featured book is The North Road, by Rob Cowan, published by Penguin (Cornerstone), paperback, 2026. The author (whom some people will recognise as being one of today's most popular nature writers and as author of Common Ground), has been long-listed for the Wainwright Prize for Nature and has been on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week. This work follows a journey along the 2,000-year-old route that is the A1, the Great North Road, covering a thoroughfare that includes an ancient trackway, Roman road, pilgrim path and modern motorway: a 400 mile route that takes in changes in nature and habitat as well as history.

AND FINALLY..

We will be taking our usual holiday break, so there will be no regular SLM Newsletter in August, unless something urgent occurs that we want to inform you of.