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NCRA Groupmail mailbox:///C|/Users/Nik/AppData/Roaming/Postbox/Profiles/at15...

Subject: NCRA Groupmail
From: NCRA_Groupmail_3 <NCRA_Groupmail_3@northcrayresidents.org.uk>
Date: Fri, 06 Mar 2015 18:43:42 +0000
To: Jean Gammons <jeangammons@btinternet.com>

To NCRA Members.

Below is Bexley's response to our Groupmail regarding their plan to possibly sell off two pieces of Highway land in North Cray and work undertaken on
the banks of Wyncham Stream in Sidcup:-

Dear Ms Gammons,
Thank you very much for providing me with a copy of the North Cray Residents Association Groupmail which makes comment on the possible sale of
open space and green highway land and the maintenance works recently carried out on the banks of the Wyncham Stream.
As a point of clarification it is not a question of seeking to save the maintenance costs associated with the 27 sites potentially identified for disposal.
The ten relatively small open space sites when combined only amount to 0.37% of our total parkland area of 670ha and the 17 small highway land
sites constitute 1.44% of the total green highway land. The proposal is based upon the premise that the income generated from the sale of these
small sites is invested in an endowment fund that will be used to continue the maintenance of the borough’s parks and open spaces. Without this
investment the Council would not have the funding to continue maintenance of a diverse landscape with different habitats in the remaining sites.
As I am sure your members will appreciate the parks and open spaces are all very different in landscape character and range from playing fields,
meadowland, woodlands, open grassland, playgrounds, hedges, tennis courts, wildflower meadows, parkland, heathland, rough grassland, scrubland,
waterways, and so on. The different landscapes provide different homes and feeding areas for wildlife. They also provide different habitats for plant
life.

It is important to emphasise the Council has been consulting with residents on an in principle choice between stopping maintenance, which would
essentially mean these different landscapes ultimately changing back into woodlands, or selling a small number of open space sites and a small
number of green highway sites.
It is also important that your members understand how this sits in context with the wider financial challenges that all Local Authorities are facing as the
coalition Government seek to achieve a balanced national budget. With Central Government reducing Council funding, Bexley has already had to
reduce annual spending by £50m over the last four years. Over the next four years Bexley is challenged with achieving savings of around a further
£57m. In the neighbouring borough of Bromley for instance, they are consulting with their residents as to how they will achieve savings of about
£60m.
Bexley's annual net revenue expenditure is around £167m (2014/15) and achieving a reduction in the budget during the current austerity programme,
which will remain beyond the life of the current Parliament, has involved a fundamental examination of the level of provision of all statutory and
non-statutory services. In common with other local authorities, a number of very difficult decisions have or need to be taken as a consequence of
reduced funding.
Where possible, savings have been made through efficiency measures and other methods, but unfortunately the Bexley Council also has had to
reduce or end some non-statutory services in order to set a legal budget. These are difficult choices, but without looking at alternative options for
generating income to sustain the sites in the long term, the Council wouldn’t have the money to maintain the remaining parks and open spaces and
the facilities within them.

I trust this explains why maintaining a reasonable level of grounds maintenance expenditure through the disposal of a very small proportion of its
holding in open spaces and highway land would allow the Council to provide facilities such as children’s playgrounds, sports pitches and litter bins
within the parks and open spaces as well as a diverse landscape with a range of habitats for biodiversity.
I also note that your Groupmail makes mention of the work recently carried out on the banks of the Wyncham Stream and suggests this was done to
save maintenance costs. It is equally important that your members understand the background to these works as they are unlikely to be aware that
this type of maintenance is cyclical and necessary from time to time. It was about 10 years since a similar exercise was undertaken.
Your members may not appreciate that in Brooklands Avenue this narrow stream is unnaturally constrained in a channel between two roads, giving it
very little space to function. The stream is susceptible to surcharging as it takes surface water runoff from the surrounding area and plays a vital role in
the urban drainage system. During periods of heavy rain this stream transports significant amounts of water away from the local area and considerably
reduces the risk of flooding and damage to property. The risk of surcharging has increased in recent years. There are a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly there has been an increase in hard surfacing as road networks expand, houses are built or extended and front and rear gardens are paved
over. Secondly there has been a change in climate which has led to an increase in intense rain storms. These factors have conspired to increase the
volume of water entering the borough’s watercourses.
Consequently the pressure on this small channel has increased and the Council has to ensure that it can flow to its maximum capacity by preventing
encroaching vegetation from reducing its capacity or impeding the rate at which water can move down stream. Bexley’s Highways ditching crews (who
carry out flood prevention maintenance on this section of river) have experienced major difficulties accessing the channel due to encroaching
vegetation, and in addition, we are also receiving increasing complaints about damage to passing cars.
Cyclical maintenance of the channel is therefore routine and as previously mentioned it is about 10 years since this work was last undertaken. The
mature trees have been retained and feathered (lower branches removed), other smaller shrub/trees have been coppiced and invasive species (such
as bramble) have been removed from the channel and cut to ground level. No chemicals has been used and all vegetation will regenerate. Although
there is never an ideal time to undertake work such as this, the impact on wildlife has been minimised by carrying out the work during late winter,
before any birds start to build their nests and insects lay their eggs.
The Council aims to protect wildlife habitats and to meet aspirations in the Biodiversity action plan and other relevant policies, however in the urban
context a balance must be struck with other policies such as the those which relate to flood alleviation. Without significant engineering and changes in
land use to provide the river with adequate space, there is no other affordable solution other than to dramatically manage the vegetation from time to
time.

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