Public Inquiry needed to halt Labour's destruction of Erith Marshes - Toole

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 20th Mar 2005

Will this horse still have a home?! - Dr Steven Toole (right), pictured on Erith Marshes

Last month Bexley Council gave planning permission for all three stages of the £80 million East Thamesmead Business Park development on a large section of the ancient grazing Erith Marshes.

The Liberal Democrats in Erith and Thamesmead are writing to the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and the Secretary of State for the Environment Margaret Beckett to request an inquiry into this decision.

Commenting, Dr Steven Toole, the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Erith and Thamesmead, said:

"This decision is at clear odds with the fact that the Government has identified areas such as this as habitats of national priority for nature and wildlife conservation. I am disappointed also that the current Member of Parliament for this area does not appear to have made any effort to speak out against this act of eco-vandalism.

"The objections of local residents and conservation organisations have simply been ignored. The decision must be overturned and I will continue to campaign and fight against this decision. I have contacted the Lib Dem Environment spokesman, Norman Baker, MP for Lewes, and he has said he will also follow up the issue by asking questions in Parliament.

"Unfortunately for the residents of Erith and Thamesmead this is not an isolated incident, with other threats from development looming, including the building of a massive new incinerator at Belvedere. The Liberal Democrats, unlike Labour, would place a moratorium on the building of any new incinerators.

"The residents Erith and Thamesmead deserve a real alternative to what Labour currently offers for our local environment."