Save Crossness Nature Reserve from industrial development! 

Cory Energy have submitted their documentation to the Planning Inspectorate to build on part of Crossness Nature Reserve - The time for action is now!

As individuals or organisation representatives there is until the end of Sunday 16 June to register initial objections to Cory’s Decarbonisation Project and participate in the Planning Inspectorate Examination.

Cory Energy want to build on Crossness Nature Reserve in the London Borough of Bexley by the River Thames. As a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (an NSIP) it will be examined by the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Secretary of State. The nature reserve stands to lose the East Paddock and Stable Paddocks (6 acres of Coastal and Floodplain Grazing Marsh) to many buildings including 116metre structures, and the northern edge of West Paddock to large elevated pipes and the eastern edge of Sea Wall Field to the same large elevated duct-work. 
Losing at least 11.7% of the reserve!

How to register

If you wish to participate in the Examination, you need to register as an ‘Interested Party’ with the Planning Inspectorate by submitting a ‘Relevant Representation’. The Relevant Representation is where you comment about what you consider to be the main issues and impacts. 

Register to have your say (by 16 June): https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN010128/register/register-have-your-say

The Planning inspectorate website provides a helpful video explaining the process – This is Stage 3 (The Pre-examination Stage):  https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/application-process/participating-in-the-process/

There then follows a period where more detailed ‘Written Representations’ can be submitted, expanding on matters raised in the Relevant Reps.’ This would then be followed by a series of hearings later in the year, which would be in-person. Registering an objection as an Interested Party gives you the option but does not make it mandatory to attend later hearings.  

Details and documents of the Cory Decarbonisation Project submission can be found on the Planning Inspectorate website: Cory Decarbonisation Project - https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN010128

Also spread the word, tell your local councillors, MP's and environmental organisations to comment and register by 16 June. 

More information on the Save Crossness Nature Reserve campaign - www.savecrossnessnaturereserve.org

Letters of Support: www.savecrossnessnaturereserve.org/copy-of-press

About Crossness Nature Reserve and the impact of Cory Energy's plans

Crossness Nature Reserve is a 25.5-hectare reserve, part of the Erith Marshes and is a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. The site has been owned and managed by Thames Water since 1994, but if the scheme is approved Cory could compulsory purchase the land. Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve has over 600 members and many regulars visit its combination of dykes, reedbeds, fields and scrubland, people travel far to enjoy one of the best sites for wildlife in London.

Cory Energy who run the large waste incinerator next to Crossness Nature Reserve are currently constructing a second incinerator complex called Riverside Energy Park on their land immediately to the north of the reserve, with construction until at least 2026. They are now proposing to build a decarbonisation facility, a Carbon Capture Scheme (CCS) on the reserve itself with construction until at least 2030. The CCS seeks to capture carbon dioxide emissions from the waste incinerators, liquify it and then export it to a subterranean reservoir under the North Sea. There are alternative locations adjoining the site such as industrial storage areas nearby but they have chosen the nature reserve land. 

This development threatens waterways where Water Voles (Britain’s fastest declining mammal) live and where one of Britain’s rarest bees, the Shrill Carder Bee, is doing well, it is also where passage migrant birds Wheatear, Stonechat and Whinchat are frequently seen.  The horses there are crucial for this grazing habitat, so building on the established stable paddocks damages the integrity of the marshes. These stables were built with public money, Crossness Nature Reserve also received substantial government funding via the Managing the Marshes project. The new development will also be abutting the West Paddock where there are breeding Lapwing, an overnight winter Dunlin roost, and the very rare Frog Rush plant. 

Cory is being misleading in suggesting they will increase the reserve habitat through mitigation / bio-offsetting. Regarding the claim that an ‘extended’ nature reserve will be provided, the reality is that Cory simply plan to make habitat enhancements to land that already exists for nature – the Peabody-owned Norman Road Field, already in place as mitigation for development impacts on the nearby Veridion Business Park. This area is already a haven for wildlife and does not need the removal of nature reserve land nearby for improvements to be made. A bird would only be experiencing a loss of habitat, not that these adjacent fields are now part of a reserve when they fly there! 

Stop Cory building on Crossness Nature Reserve!

Photo image by Donna Zimmer

Articles about the threat:

BBC News -Bexley: Carbon capture plant raises concerns about wildlife
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67369677

Bexley News Shopper - https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/green_2009/greennews/bexley/23920689.bexley-furious-plans-carbon-capture-plants-nature-reserve/ 

Campaign for Rural England London - https://www.cprelondon.org.uk/news/new-threat-to-key-london-nature-reserve/ 

The 2023 Nature Can't Wait report by the RSPB highlighted habitat loss as one of the five factors of the decline of wildlife in the UK, do not let Cory to contribute to this decline! - https://www.rspb.org.uk/nature-cant-wait