Growing opposition

Jerry Bamforth’s letter of the day (February 18) made a pertinent challenge about the release of greenhouse gases (C02) from the salt marsh mudflats of Portsmouth harbour, as a consequence of the proposed Tipner 1.3 billion super-peninsula development.

The harbour offers an important eco-service to the city by capturing and storing CO2, since salt marshes store greenhouse gases at far greater rates than land eco-systems.

And it is incredulous that the city’s council seems determined to ignore the International Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar 1971) which is meant to protect the harbour – of which the UK is a signatory party – to meet unreasonable government house building demands from an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter tea party.

The RSPB has likened the trashing of the city’s nature heritage, as equivalent to a developer proposing to demolish the city’s historic dockyard and sink the HMS Victory. Even Natural England – the statutory body responsible for conserving the natural world – recognises the harbour as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area. More than 22,000 people opposing the Tipner super-peninsula development have now signed the Wildlife Trusts petition, and it is likely that opposition will continue to gain momentum.

It seriously highlights how the proposed Office for Environmental Protection under the Environment Bill (currently passing through Parliament) needs to be independent and equipped with strong enforcement teeth to challenge proposed developments of such sensitive nature.

Stewart Luck Hurst Green Close, Cowplain