Campaigners are calling on Labour-run Ealing Council and its leader Councillor Peter Mason to create a new Coronation Meadow by giving Local Nature Reserve status to Warren Farm.
The Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign, which has had more than 21,000 people supporting it by signing, says that with English Heritage looking to create 100 meadows around the country to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, Warren Farm is ideal for this and Ealing Council should ensure it becomes the 101st.
This follows plans announced by Ealing Council and supported by its scrutiny committee to turn parts of Warren Farm into a large sports faciity despite local opposition to it. The campaigners say the proposal to develop a sports facility on the meadow, which has had 14 years to re-wild and is home to vulnerable species, runs counter to policies at national, London-wide and local level
By giving Local Nature Reserve status to Warren Farm Nature Reserve, a 61 acre rewilded grassland and wildflower meadow habitat home to rare and vulnerable species including Skylarks, the council could create the 101st Coronation Meadow.
The neighbouring meadow to Warren Farm Nature Reserve was named Jubilee Meadow in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s jubilee so a Coronation Meadow would be in the same tradition.
Katie Boyles, Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) Trustee and Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign organiser said: “Declaring a new Local Nature Reserve for the King’s Coronation would commemorate the occasion and send a strong signal about Ealing Council’s commitment to the future and their climate and ecological policies. King Charles has long been a champion of the environment so this would be in keeping with his outlook and his vision for taking greater care of our environment.”
Ms Boyles added: “The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and we are facing a looming climate emergency. There are less than 3% of wildflower meadows left in the UK, of which Warren Farm Nature Reserve, is one. With Ealing’s only Skylarks successfully breeding here and plant species such as Copse Bindweed, with our meadow being the only site left in London where it grows, what a wonderful way to commemorate a point in time and show future generations that in 2023, Ealing Council was looking to the future. Declaring Warren Farm Nature Reserve as a ‘coronation meadow 101’ would be a lasting legacy for our council leader Peter Mason to leave. Street parties are brilliant fun but protecting biodiversity for future generations is a gift of life for everyone.”
Among those supporting Warren Farm to get Local Nature Reserve status are:
Kabir Kaul, wildlife writer and conservationist
Chris Packham, wildlife TV presenter and conservationist
Liz Bonnin, President of The Wildlife Trusts
Andrew Peel, Head of London RSPB
Matthew Frith, Policy Director, London Wildlife Trust
Dr Amir Khan, President of the RSPB and Vice President of the Wildlife Trusts
Lolo Williams, TV and Radio presenter, naturalist and ornithologist
Dr Sean McCormack, conservationist, TV presenter and founder of Ealing Wildlife Group,
Alastair Driver, conservationist and Director of Rewilding Britain
The Barn Owl Trust
The Selborne Society, Britain’s oldest conservation charity.
Neil Reynolds, chair of Ealing Green Party told EALING.NEWS: “Labour has made a royal mess of its handling of this issue. Green spaces and wildlife benefit everyone however. The council should make Warren Farm a nature reserve now, all of it.”
Last month businesswoman, environmentalist and Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden added her voice of support to save skylarks and other wildlife at Warren Farm from being destroyed in plans by Ealing Council to develop the land into a large sports facility.
Campaigners and nature experts have said if Ealing Council proceeds with its controversial plans, it will amount to “ecocide”.
EALING.NEWS has reached out to Ealing Council and its leader Councillor Peter Mason for a comment.
