NEWS
WILD NEWS
Building a new vision for Tipner West
All the latest news from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
To encourage this, we’ve partnered with Hampshire Fare to champion local, sustainable seafood from wave to plate. Our joint campaign, Great Solent Seafood, aims to help us all enjoy fantastic food while reducing its impact on our waters. This autumn, we were delighted to sign up our first businesses as supporters of this project.
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ALL PHOTOS: TOBY ROXBURGH / 2020VISION
eafood can be a healthy and delicious source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, but some fishing methods are destructive and harm habitats and wildlife. Much of the seafood caught in our waters is shipped abroad due to a lack of local demand.
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Supporting suppliers who use more sustainable fishing methods, or championing their produce, is a great way to tackle some of these issues. Many fishermen, shops and restaurants in our area want to become more sustainable, and local demand would help make this economically viable.
Supporters can be from any part of the local seafood supply chain, and once they are signed up, they will be able to use our Great Solent Seafood logo to highlight their sustainable produce. We will also work with them to set attainable goals, provide guidance towards achieving those goals and promote their efforts through our campaign. If you are interested in becoming a supporter or know someone who might be, we would love to hear from you. Keep your eyes peeled for more news about Great Solent Seafood in the coming months, including our cookery workshops and recipe competition, which will be kicking off in Spring 2022. This campaign is part of our National Lottery Heritage Fund supported marine project, Secrets of the Solent, which is celebrating our seas through art, cuisine, citizen science, and more.
Council’s vision for the city over the next 15 years and asked for residents’ views on the ‘super-peninsula’ plans at Tipner West. Once again, you all rose to the occasion with a tidal wave of over 8,000 objections formally recorded in the consultation. These signatures and responses helped change the minds of local councillors who are now joining us in opposing the plans. In October, Portsmouth’s Labour and Conservative councillors overwhelmingly voted to ‘pause and rethink’ plans for Tipner West, leaving the Liberal Democrat minority council lacking enough support for the superpeninsula. While this pause is welcome, we need to see the council scrap these damaging plans for good. A crucial indication of our success will be whether the council does the right thing and removes the land reclamation plans from the next stage of the Local Plan (Reg 19) where the council will set in stone their intentions for Tipner West, consulting the public one last time before they submit it to the Secretary of State. Over the next few months, we want to bring the community together to build an alternative vision for Tipner West, one that makes space for nature to thrive, whilst also reconnecting Portsmouth’s residents with the green spaces they want and need. If you would like to contribute to a vision for a wilder Tipner West please email us at: campaigns@ hiwwt.org.uk.
Pine martens return to the New Forest Pine martens have established a population in the New Forest, a team from the Trust, Forestry England, and specialist consultants Wild New Forest confirmed this summer. After habitat loss and persecution caused a drastic reduction in their numbers, pine martens were thought to only survive in the North of England, Scotland and Wales. They were once widespread in the UK. The team will monitor the population to get a better idea of how many live in the Forest and to see which areas they are using the most.
JOSHUA COPPING
Great Solent Seafood
A precious site for wildlife in Portsmouth remains under threat from inappropriate development, despite the many legal protections given to Tipner West’s lifegiving, muddy shores. The ’super-peninsula’ proposals put forward by Portsmouth City Council would see 27 hectares of intertidal habitat concreted over in order to accommodate 3,500 new homes and a marine employment hub. These mudflats boast SSSI, SPA and Ramsar site designations in recognition of their importance to thousands of migratory birds, such as dark-bellied brent geese and dunlin as well as many fish and invertebrates. These are some of the highest legal safeguards that can be awarded and yet plans to destroy the area are being actively pursued by the council. Not only would this development be disastrous for the wildlife and people of Portsmouth, but could set a precedent that would allow housing targets to trump nature anywhere. We and the RSPB believe this is one of the most significant threats to wildlife for a generation and we are working together to stop this proposal. Earlier in the year an incredible 24,000 people said #DontGoThere to Portsmouth City Council, in a petition that helped supercharge the momentum of the campaign. This autumn, we faced another big hurdle - Portsmouth’s Draft Local Plan consultation (at the stage known as Reg 18), which outlined the
News in brief
Wight Nature Fund gifts nature reserves to the Trust The Trust has taken over the management of new nature reserves on the Isle of Wight. After 31 years of looking after Alverstone Mead, Youngwoods Copse, Bretts Meadow and Benstead Marsh, the Wight Nature Fund has handed their management over to us as part of a succession plan. We are grateful to have been trusted with these much-loved reserves and look forward to continuing to work with the Wight Nature Fund’s volunteers and partners to continue to protect these sites for future generations. We will be sharing more information about these fabulous new reserves over the coming months.
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