As Royal Mail flaunted its green credentials with a new set of stamps featuring endangered insects yesterday, a conservation charity offered up a similar set highlighting the plight of insects that it says are threatened by one of the postal service’s developments.
Buglife, or the Invertebrate Conservation Trust, also announced its intention to go to the Court of Appeal to challenge the development of a depot and lorry park for Royal Mail on marshland in Essex. In February, the High Court rejected Buglife’s attempt to stop the building work at West Thurrock Marshes in Essex.
Until ten years ago, the marshes were home to a power station and a dumping ground for fly ash. But when the station closed in the mid1990s, the land proved to be a fertile breeding ground for wildlife. The area now has more then 1,300 insect, bird and reptile species. Despite this, the marshes are considered a brownfield site and planning permission to build on an area the size of 15 football pitches was awarded to Rosemound, a property developer, by the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation.
“The statutory objective of a planning body is development, rather than protecting wildlife,â€
Mr Leighton prowling the halls of HQ looking for
Allan Leighton who appears to be in full spin mode.