3:03pm Thursday 14th August 2003
DEVELOPERS have applied to build "executive" housing on green belt land in Stanmore, which is currently home to rare wildlife.
It should be remembered that every time the council grants permission for such a development, however seemingly insignificant it is at the time, it eats into the borough's remaining ration of green space, areas which are then condemned to be smothered in concrete, gravel and replica iron railings forever.
New green space is rarely, if ever, created. And, if it is, it is planned and landscaped, not natural.
There might be a nod towards nature in the planned luxury estate. A hedgehog boot scraper, perhaps. A bird-shaped designer windchime, reminiscent of the endangered skylarks, long frightened from their ground nests. Maybe an overfed domestic cat will stretch out lazily and watch the clouds from a centrally heated garden gazebo.
But it seems unlikely that the new residents would offer sanctuary to the bats which live in the existing farm buildings which will be replaced by their plush homes. Nor will they give a second thought to the badgers whose sets were disturbed by their thunderous four-wheel drive cars. We would not expect them to: any evidence of the old site will have been erased by the time they move in.
We are reminded that the wealthy new owners will, of course, be able to gaze out of their aluminium-framed, doubled-glazed windows onto the regulated slopes of Stanmore Country Park, which would replace the wild, untouched stretch of farmland which once offered refuge to a variety of rare species of plants, animals, insects and snakes. Will every piece of uncultivated land in Harrow eventually become tamed, signposted, glossed over and overseen by a visitors’ centre?
If Harrow Council is interested in converting green belt land into residential areas, is it not peculiar to consider granting permission for a "millionaire's row" when the borough is so desperate for cheap housing for vital workers? If this previously protected land is now deemed to be suitable for development, the need for "affordable homes" is surely more pressing.
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