Liberal Democrat Councillor Athena Zissimos, spokesperson for the Environment, challenges Labour-run Ealing Council over Warren Farm and asks why it continues to disregard the local communities’ voices to make the whole site a nature reserve.
“A reality check that Ealing Labour Council is yet to fathom, Warren Farm cannot be both a sports ground with cricket and football pitches and a nature reserve.
“Liberal Democrats say that Warren Farm is nature at it best. The farm has come back to life, and it is now home to around 20 endangered plant species and endangered wildlife, There are grasshoppers, bats and voles and of course not only the famous Skylarks, but owls and peregrines too. A whole eco-system has come alive.
“Nature has done the work, the rewilding has already happened, and it is well documented by many experts, it is a false promise to take what has rewilded for the past nearly 15 years, that has been given to us by mother nature and squander it. Warren Farm has the perfect habitat for endangered Skylarks with its open landscape it has been explained again and again by experts that it is a requirement for Skylarks to breed. Skylarks, as ground nesting birds, need to be able to nest in the middle of an open space away from trees, where predatory birds like crows like to perch and take any opportunity to pounce on young Skylarks.
“Ealing Liberal Democrats are strongly supporting the local community who have amassed a huge 20,000 signature petition to keep Warren Farm as is, and have all of it become a Nature Reserve. Please do sign the petition if you have not done so already.
“Despite this huge support for all of Warren Farm to become a nature reserve, Ealing Labour Council continues to disregard the local communities’ voices.
“Cutting Warren Farm in half and placing both cricket and or football pitches on it (incidentally the part of the Farm that has the most endangered plant life), and thus bringing the tree line closer and still expecting Skylarks to happily breed in a now smaller space is magical thinking on the Council’s part.
“The green space that Imperial College hopes to gift to the Council to rewild is an unknown quantity, and will not help with the requirement for a large open space. Essentially the Labour-run Ealing Council hopes to de-wild a space that has been rewilding for nearly 15 years to build cricket and football pitches and then begin a new rewilding project from scratch for Imperial College, so that Imperial College can feel better about building towers in Acton.
“Warren Farm is a place where the whole family can enjoy the outdoors together, a green space, where nature is at its best, they may even spot some Skylarks, if not an owl or a peregrine high above.
“The Liberal Democrats will work with residents across Ealing and continue to fight Labour’s disastrous plans for Warren Farm until they make a U-turn or it goes to the courts.”
