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Protecting wildlife
• AT its April 7 meeting Camden agreed that biodiversity must become a key strategy for the future.
A motion tabled by the Greens and seconded by a Labour councillor was extended and strengthened by the Liberal Democrats and then passed without councillors of any party voting against or abstaining.
I too am in favour of this but it will be interesting to see how well the council lives up to its bold commitment.
But the commitment flies in the face of such traditional municipal policies as development, simplified management, tidiness, cleanliness, pest control and hygiene.
Biodiversity covers the full diversity of biological life, not only flowering plants but also unsightly weeds, not only birds but also bugs, and not only bees but even bacteria.
Its natural enemies include car exhausts, asphalt, concrete, pesticides, chemical preservatives and many of the activities we still regard as our normal right.
Housing developments dislodge and exclude swifts, house martins and swallows. Garden insecticides leave our surviving songbirds to starve and almost everyone’s immediate reaction to spotting a moth, fly or spider is to squash it.
Camden says it will ensure new development does not adversely impact upon biodiversitiy, but I hope it will go further. It must lead by example in providing and protecting habitats for wildlife.
Robin Young
Bedford Court Mansions, WC1
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