Case Studies Pages Case
3 - Drive Foundations What are the Soil Nutrients besides What types of organisms are found in the soil? and What Pysical changes occur in Soil because of weather? and what Chemical changes occur in Soil because of weather? leading to This leads to an 3b Pre-Building Work for Builders to treat polluted soil using phyto-remediation plants.
Then, they could follow my following Suggested Action Plan for Builders after they have built their houses:-
And finally on the same day pour a depth of 11 inches (27.5 cms) depth of the builders soil mixture detailed below onto the remainder of the new garden areas and alongside the Instant Hedging.
A fortnight later the following type of turf containing RTF (Rhizomatous Tall Fescue), bred by Barenbrug Research USA, could be laid over the proposed lawn areas. The roots of that grass will reach the clay below and stabilise the new builders soil mix, before the proposed owners view the property a month later. The builders soil mix should within 3 months become roughly the same proportion of clay, silt and sand which is within a Sandy Clay Loam to create a sweet spot for growing plants as shown on How is material lost from the soil? Page, since it will mix with the clay below.
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Design Cases When designing a garden, it is vital to know who and for how long the resulting designed and landscaped garden is going to be maintained by. The book 'The One Hour Garden' describes what maintenance work can be done in the time that you have allotted; and therefore what besides a lawn, you can have in your garden. My redesign and construction work to be done on my 3 gardens - as shown by Case 2 - must be to reduce the maintenance time required to the time I have available. If the gardens are first weeded, pruned, mulched, mown and bare earth converted to lawns using grass seed, then construction can take place in the future - as free time allows during a week or fortnight after the maintenance has been done. In Case 4, the combination of the Structural and Planting Designs would create a garden that I would be able to maintain in one day a fortnight. I would install a 3" deep mulch in the spring on the beds, so that I can prune the shrubs/trees and hoe the odd weed; whilst the father mows the lawns, the mother tends the vegetable garden and their teenage daughters play football!! The children in Case 5 loved to look at creepy-crawlies and wildlife, so that together with low-cost the design for different areas in a terrace house garden was created.
Construction Cases Case 3 is building a drive on clay and it is important to get the part you will not see - the foundations - done correctly. Case 8 is creating a pond with its pitfalls for foundations.
Maintenance Cases If you are asking someone to maintain your garden, then do provide the complete picture. If as in Case 1, you intend to sell the property, then look at this - as not a maintenance but as a selling job - and get that job done instead. Case 6 is creating a vegetable garden in a back garden during the maintenance program of one day a fortnight to maintain it and the remainder of the back and front gardens. This was done over 7 years using a crop rotation system Concrete ponds are likely to crack open due to movement in the ground levels due to being in clay or vibration caused by road traffic if it is fairly close. Case 7 shows no planting shelves for the pond plants. |
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Section below on Problems for Houseowners and Builders when the new home is surrounded by clay and how to solve them. |
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Problems for Houseowners and Builders when the new home is surrounded clay and how to solve them. 8 problems caused by clay:-
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Builders do sell the original topsoil including
where the new building and its garden areas are to be built.
The consolidated parent material (bedrock) is usually sand, chalk or clay with flint possibly. At the end of building; the builders rubble is covered with possibly only a 2 inch (5 cms) depth of imported topsoil, which might be the washings from the sugar beet in the sugar industry. This is covered with turf and the unsuspecting public is offered the result. As likely as not one of their gardens slopes towards the house and even with the modern depth of foundation wall, there is no guarantee that subsidence will not occur.
If every garden of a new house had a 12 inch depth of soil removed from its new garden area, then at the end of the building work, the Aquadyne Drainage System would be laid round the entire boundary. Next to it then plant the relevant Instant Hedge on the non-house wall sides to absorb the rainwater collected by that drainage system
The mix to change clay soil into a friable useful soil in less than 4 months for the above domestic garden problem was in royal blue colour typing. Using the burgundy colour typing components, the builder could create the following soil mix for his gardens:
If water with 150 kgs of clay was first added to the Concrete TruckMixer and then the required volume of cullet followed by the required volume of waste plasterboard, the mixture is then mixed for an hour. If the cullet/waste plasterboard mixture is passed through the poultry houses to mix with the poultry litter on the litter floor before being collected into the next Concrete TruckMixer, then the houses would be cleaner and smell less. The required volume of waste from beer making could replace the Peat above and the requisite Sulphate of Iron and Sulphate of Potash could be added to the Concrete TruckMixer before that mixture from the Poultry Farm litter floor is added. That soil mixture could then be mixed for 30 minutes before applying it to the garden areas of the new houses built by the builder to an 11 inch (27.5 cms) depth. The resulting mixture would then integrate with the clay and create a deep topsoil within 3 months. All the requirements for a soil as shown in the figure above would then have mixed together and time will increase the bacteria and get a new soil structure created. The following type of turf could then be laid over the proposed lawn areas a fortnight later:- RTF (Rhizomatous Tall Fescue), bred by Barenbrug Research USA, produces rhizomes (an underground stem) that send a shoot up to the soil surface while extending new roots downwards. In fact, RTF can root to 1.5 metres deep giving it a chance to tap into water reserves that normal lawn turf cannot reach. |
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Section below on Plant Selection Methods |
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Choose 1 of these different Plant selection Methods:-
1. Choose a plant from 1 of 53 flower colours in the Colour Wheel Gallery.
2. Choose a plant from 1 of 12 flower colours in each month of the year from 12 Bloom Colours per Month Index Gallery.
3. Choose a plant from 1 of 6 flower colours per month for each type of plant:- Aquatic
4. Choose a plant from its Flower Shape:- Shape, Form
5. Choose a plant from its foliage:- Bamboo
6. There are 6 Plant Selection Levels including Bee Pollinated Plants for Hay Fever Sufferers in
or
7. when I do not have my own or ones from mail-order nursery photos , then from March 2016, if you want to start from the uppermost design levels through to your choice of cultivated and wildflower plants to change your Plant Selection Process then use the following galleries:-
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There are other pages on Plants which bloom in each month of the year in this website:-
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PLANTS PAGE PLANT USE Groundcover Height Poisonous Cultivated and UK Wildflower Plants with Photos
Following parts of Level 2a, |
PLANTS PAGE MENU
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PLANTS PAGE MENU
Photos - 12 Flower Colours per Month in its Bloom Colour Wheel Gallery
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To locate mail-order nursery for plants from the UK in this gallery try using search in RHS Find a Plant. To locate plants in the European Union (EU) try using Search Term in Gardens4You and Meilland Richardier in France. To locate mail-order nursery for plants from America in this gallery try using search in Plant Lust. To locate plant information in Australia try using Plant Finder in Gardening Australia. |
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Section below provides details about flowers |
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The following details come from Cactus Art:- "A flower is the the complex sexual reproductive structure of Angiosperms, typically consisting of an axis bearing perianth parts, androecium (male) and gynoecium (female). Bisexual flower show four distinctive parts arranged in rings inside each other which are technically modified leaves: Sepal, petal, stamen & pistil. This flower is referred to as complete (with all four parts) and perfect (with "male" stamens and "female" pistil). The ovary ripens into a fruit and the ovules inside develop into seeds. Incomplete flowers are lacking one or more of the four main parts. Imperfect (unisexual) flowers contain a pistil or stamens, but not both. The colourful parts of a flower and its scent attract pollinators and guide them to the nectary, usually at the base of the flower tube.
Androecium (male Parts or stamens) Gynoecium (female Parts or carpels or pistil) It is made up of the stigma, style, and ovary. Each pistil is constructed of one to many rolled leaflike structures. Stigma This is the part of the pistil which receives the pollen grains and on which they germinate. Style This is the long stalk that the stigma sits on top of. Ovary The part of the plant that contains the ovules. Ovule The part of the ovary that becomes the seeds. Petal The colorful, often bright part of the flower (corolla). Sepal The parts that look like little green leaves that cover the outside of a flower bud (calix). (Undifferentiated "Perianth segment" that are not clearly differentiated into sepals and petals, take the names of tepals.)"
The following details come from Nectary Genomics:- "NECTAR. Many flowering plants attract potential pollinators by offering a reward of floral nectar. The primary solutes found in most nectars are varying ratios of sucrose, glucose and fructose, which can range from as little a 8% (w/w) in some species to as high as 80% in others. This abundance of simple sugars has resulted in the general perception that nectar consists of little more than sugar-water; however, numerous studies indicate that it is actually a complex mixture of components. Additional compounds found in a variety of nectars include other sugars, all 20 standard amino acids, phenolics, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenes, vitamins, organic acids, oils, free fatty acids, metal ions and proteins. NECTARIES. An organ known as the floral nectary is responsible for producing the complex mixture of compounds found in nectar. Nectaries can occur in different areas of flowers, and often take on diverse forms in different species, even to the point of being used for taxonomic purposes. Nectaries undergo remarkable morphological and metabolic changes during the course of floral development. For example, it is known that pre-secretory nectaries in a number of species accumulate large amounts of starch, which is followed by a rapid degradation of amyloplast granules just prior to anthesis and nectar secretion. These sugars presumably serve as a source of nectar carbohydrate. WHY STUDY NECTAR? Nearly one-third of all worldwide crops are dependent on animals to achieve efficient pollination. In addition, U.S. pollinator-dependent crops have been estimated to have an annual value of up to $15 billion. Many crop species are largely self-incompatible (not self-fertile) and almost entirely on animal pollinators to achieve full fecundity; poor pollinator visitation has been reported to reduce yields of certain species by up to 50%." |
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The following details about DOUBLE FLOWERS comes from Wikipedia:- "Double-flowered" describes varieties of flowers with extra petals, often containing flowers within flowers. The double-flowered trait is often noted alongside the scientific name with the abbreviation fl. pl. (flore pleno, a Latin ablative form meaning "with full flower"). The first abnormality to be documented in flowers, double flowers are popular varieties of many commercial flower types, including roses, camellias and carnations. In some double-flowered varieties all of the reproductive organs are converted to petals — as a result, they are sexually sterile and must be propagated through cuttings. Many double-flowered plants have little wildlife value as access to the nectaries is typically blocked by the mutation.
There is further photographic, diagramatic and text about Double Flowers from an education department - dept.ca.uky.edu - in the University of Kentucky in America.
"Meet the plant hunter obsessed with double-flowering blooms" - an article from The Telegraph. |
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Ivydene Gardens Case Studies: |
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Following my reading of the article "London 2012 Olympic Games was the largest contaminated brownfield site in any capital city, the legacy of an industrial past. The Olympic Games will bring prosperity through urban renewal to a derelict wasteland that has laid dormant for many years, although just a few kilometres from the heart of London, being too expensive to clean up for normal redevelopment.", I was considering a different approach. Builders buy land to build on and keep it in their Land Bank until required. Perhaps once they had bought it, then the following might occur:-
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USING PLANTS TO CLEAN CONTAMINATED SOIL By Brian Kaller, originally published by Restoring Mayberry August 11, 2014 In the last couple of centuries humans have done a strange thing: we’ve dug the biggest pits, the deepest holes, and the longest tunnels the world has ever seen, all to find the most insidious and subtle poisons known to our mammalian bodies, remove them from deep inside rocks where they had lain sequestered for eons, and concentrate them in the places where most of us live. We’re starting to think this maybe wasn’t a good idea. Take lead, which last- century humans put into containers, car parts, pipes, paints and many other products — and even in petroleum, spreading lead-tainted exhaust across a world. Lead causes brain damage and erratic behaviour if absorbed into the human body, and its rise and fall correlates with the US crime rate in the 20th century – the more lead was around children, the more crime appeared a generation later. It’s been banned from paints and auto fuel, of course, but it lingers on old buildings and in soil. Or take mercury: burning coal releases it into air and water, and thence into animals like fish – a 2009 study by the US Geological Survey tested 300 streams across the USA and found that every fish tested contained mercury, a quarter at unsafe levels. You could go on with a list of such heavy metals – cadmium, zinc, copper – right down the periodic table. Most of all, we have pulled out coal and oil and used it not just to fuel up the car and turn on the lights, but to generate hundreds of thousands of petrochemicals with unpronounceable names as long as sentences and often-unpleasant effects. I say “we,” of course, but this isn’t a guilt trip; most of this was before your time, and you didn’t vote for it anyway. You and I use small amounts of heavy metals and fossil fuels in our own lives – driving, flying, heating, buying plastic products, just looking at this on a computer – but it’s very difficult to avoid doing so and still living in the modern world. The consequence of so many people doing so many of these things, though, is that any urban area — and many rural ones – will have splotches on the map with large quantities of toxic materials in the ground. If you live where a gasoline station used to be, or a factory, a garbage dump, or any number of other things, you might have things in your soil you don’t want in your stroganoff. If you think you just won’t live in places, or just move away from them, congratulations: you’re thinking the same thing as everyone else. That presents a problem, as everyone who can live somewhere else will do so, and everyone who can’t live somewhere else will live on contaminated sites. Realistically, this means the poor, the elderly and other vulnerable people have to live with everyone else’s toxic waste – which is often the case already. Other methods, like removing tonnes of contaminated soil, involve years of work and vast sums of money we don’t have anymore. If you could remove all the affected soil, moreover, where would you put it, aside from somewhere else that would then be contaminated? What we need is a device that can suck toxins out of the soil and either turn them into something harmless, or concentrate them in something lightweight and removable. No one has much money lying around to invent such a device, though, much less to manufacture millions of them and send them to sites around the world for free. Thus, these hypothetical devices would be even better if they already appeared around the world. It would be best, in fact, if these machines cost nothing to create, and once created could make more of themselves, at an exponential rate. While we’re at it, it would also be nice if the devices also prevented soil erosion, fed bees and other pollinators, and provided shade, beauty, a home for wildlife, and possibly firewood. Thankfully, we have these machines now. Certain plants, it turns out, have a particular gift for sucking up specific chemicals, either as a quirk of their biology or as a way to make themselves poisonous and avoid being eaten. When these plants are sown on contaminated ground, they absorb the contaminants into their tissues, gradually reducing the amount in the soil until it is safe for humans. Called phyto-remediation, this process has become one of the newest and most promising fields of biology. Similar methods use mushrooms in what is called myco-remediation, or use bacteria and have unfortunate names like bio-sparging, bio-slurping and bio-venting, but we’ll restrict ourselves here to plants. The basic method is straightforward: find out what toxins lurk in your patch of ground, and come up with a regimen of plants appropriate for the climate that hyper-accumulate those particular toxins. “Toxins,” of course, covers a lot of ground, and the vagueness of the word allows it to be used in all kinds of unproductive ways – for example, every fake New Age cure that claims to rid your body of unspecified “toxins.” So to get more specific, let’s separate toxins into two of the most common categories: metals and petrochemicals. Petrochemicals generally have familiar atoms like carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the same things that make up chocolate sundaes, flower gardens, testosterone, newspaper, and most of the world around us. Those same elements in different combinations, however, make common but un-tasty compounds like gasoline, or lethal poisons like Agent Orange — it’s all in how many atoms are put together in what arrangement. If a plant can absorb, let’s say, the cancer-causing benzo-pyrene – C20H12, found in coal tar – with some oxygen (O) and then separate it into C12H22O11 and H2O, the petroleum-based poison would become sugar water. I’m not saying this is the actual chemical process, by the way – just an example of how chemical combinations can make something deadly or delicious. When the toxins are metals, of course, they cannot be broken down into other elements any more than lead could be changed to gold. Some plants can absorb the metal and metabolise it into some kind of molecule, however, making it less easy to be absorbed by the human body and thus safer to be around. Sometimes the metals can even help us; some biologists have even proposed using certain edible plants to accumulate zinc from contaminated soils and feeding the plants to people with a zinc deficiency. After the plants are harvested with the metals concentrated in their tissues, they can be burned, and the metal stays in the ash – a small amount of space and weight to dispose of, compared to the tonnes of contaminated earth. The ash might even be able to be mined for the metals, for complete recycling. One example comes from Brazil, where abandoned gold mines are leaking mercury and other heavy metals into the soil and water. Mercury is one of the most toxic of heavy metals, and once in the soil it is soaked up by grass, which is eaten by cows, which are eaten by … you get the idea. Farmers are now growing maize and canola plants in the area, though, which soak up heavy metals quite nicely – gold as well as mercury. One scientists overseeing the project estimated farmers could get a kilogram of gold per hectare from doing this, which would help pay for the clean-up. Mustard greens were used to remove 45% of the excess lead from a yard in Boston to ensure the safety of children who play there. Pumpkin vines were used to clean up an old Magic Marker factory site in Trenton, New Jersey, while Alpine pennycress helped clean up abandoned mines in Britain. Hydroponically grown sunflowers were used to absorb radioactive metals near the Chernobyl nuclear site in the Ukraine as well as a uranium plant in Ohio. Blue Sheep fescue helps clean up lead, as do water ferns and members of the cabbage family. Smooth water hyssop takes up copper and mercury, while water hyacinths suck up mercury, lead, cadmium, zinc, cesium, strontium-90, uranium and various pesticides. Sunflowers slurp a wide range of compounds – not just the uranium and strontium-90 from radioactive sites, but also cesium, methyl bromide and many more. Bladder campion accumulates zinc and copper, while Indian mustard greens concentrate selenium, sulphur, lead, chromium, cadmium, nickel, zinc, and copper. Perhaps the most magnificent hyperaccumulator, though, is the simple willow tree, Salix viminalis; it slurps up copper, zinc, cadmium, selenium, silver, chromium, uranium, petrochemicals and many others. Also, once its bio-mass has concentrated the heavy metals, it can be harvested and used for many practical things. Of course, phytoremediation operates under certain limitations; the plants have to be able to grow in that climate, and should not be an invasive species that will take over the landscape, as kudzu did in the American South. The plants can only remove toxins as deep as their roots, so the technique might not solve groundwater contamination. Most importantly, plants move at a different speed than we do, and even after the plants are harvested they are not likely to have eliminated the toxin. Reducing a toxin to safe levels takes time, and phytoremediation doesn’t remove a problem overnight. Perhaps the most appealing aspect of this new field, though, is its scale, that the work to clean up toxic-waste sites could be done with no massive government project or corporate funding, with no bulldozers or construction equipment, without advanced and delicate technology beyond that to measure the toxin levels. The principles could be taught to every schoolchild or practiced by every land-owner, so that if anyone detects a certain toxin on their property, they will know what to plant to gradually remove it. The seeds and plants could be sold by any gardening or farm-supply store, so that some of our society’s most grandiose mistakes can be fixed by ordinary people, using natural means, using home-made experiments, hard work and patience, to restore our land to what it once was.
Thanks to Dr. David Leung of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand for his assistance in checking this article. Survey of US streams: “Mercury Found in Every Fish Tested, Scientists Say,” New York Times, August 19, 2009. Effects of lead on crime: “America’s Real Criminal Element: Lead,” Mother Jones magazine, January 2013 Effects of lead on crime: “How Lead Exposure Relates to Temporal Changes in IQ, Violent Crime, and Unwed Pregnancy,” Rick Nevin, Environmental Research, Volume 83, Issue 1, May 2000, Pages 1-22. Effects of lead on crime: “Hazards of heavy metal contamination,” British Medical Bulletin, Volume 68, Issue 1, p. 167-182 Phytoremedation: Recent Advances Toward Improved Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Pollution, Bentham Books, 2013. Gold mines and mercury: Phytoremediation of Mercury-Contaminated Mine Wastes, Fabio Netto Moreno, Massey University 2004. Playground in Boston: “New Jersey company cultivates pollution-eating plants Mustard greens, alfalfa help to clean up ravages of industry,” Baltimore Sun, March 30. 1997. Playground in Boston: Blaylock, M.J., S. Dushenkov, D. Page, G. Montes, D. Vasudev, and Y. Kapulnik. Phytoremediation of a Pb-contaminated brownfield site in New Jersey. (1996), pp. 497-498. In Emerging Technologies in Hazardous Waste Management VIII, 1996 Extended Abstracts for the Special Symposium, Birmingham, Alabama, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Division, American Chemical Society, September 9-11, 1996. Blue Sheep Fescue: Phytoremediation: A Green Technology to Remove Environmental Pollutants, p. 71 – 86, American Journal of Climate Change 2013. “Metal armour protects plants from disease,” Planet Earth Online, 10 September 2010. “Improving Plants for Zinc Acquisition,” Prachy Dixit and Susan Eapen, Bioremediation Technology: Recent Advances, M. H. Fulekar, Springer, 2010. Bio-remediation and Bio-fortification: Two Sides of One Coin, by X. Yin and L. Yuan, Springer 2012. |
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Some other details about builders requirements for infrastructure to support the future owners of their newly built properties:-
The following is our letter to the local authority about an application for 200 houses to be built in a field opposite our conservation area (one of the remits of this conservation area is because it was a small village in the countryside):- |
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1 Eastmooor Farm Cottages Moor Street Rainham Kent ME8 8QE 01634 780675 janet@ivydenegardens.co.uk
9th July 2015
Dear Sirs,
Re development to the north of Moor Street – appeal against the refusal of planning permission Appeals Ref: APP/A2280/W/15/3012034
I am writing to object to the appeal by Gladman’s Builders against the refusal by Medway Council to grant planning permission for a development of 200 houses to the north of Moor Street. This matter should be considered in conjunction with another application being made by Persimmon, to build 300 homes on adjacent land, because access to all of these dwellings will be onto Otterham Quay Lane. Note should also be taken of the granting of permission by Swale Borough Council for 50 dwellings to be build on 4 Gun Field, which will also rely upon Otterham Quay Lane for access. We live to the south of Moor Street within the conservation area and have significant concerns about all of the proposed development. The first issue is the availability of services such as education and doctors surgeries. It is reasonable to suppose that a fair proportion of the houses will have school age children living in them, particularly given the inclusion of social housing. Whilst there are 7 primary schools within Medway and one in Swale within 1.5 miles of both sites, it is unlikely that they have capacity to take more children; 5 are already oversubscribed and one is within Swale, meaning that Medway children are unlikely to be admitted. No consideration seems to have been given to whether additional classrooms could be added to existing schools, even if those schools were willing to be expanded. The same concern applies to provision of school places for older children. I note that the surgeries at Rainham Healthy living centre are accepting new patients. One of those surgeries already has a very low rating (51.9%) from patients regarding the making of appointments and another is only 75% for the same category, although the rating for clinical care is much higher. Increasing the population by hundreds of people is only going to make matters worse, at a time when there is a national shortage of GP’s. Before planning permission is given, checks must be made that all potential residents could register with a GP who can offer an appropriate service, including home visits if necessary. Our local hospital, Medway Maritime is already in special measures and its recovery plan suggests it will be 5 years before services will be satisfactory in all areas. More homes will mean a greater demand upon hospital services, which will impact adversely on both current residents of Medway and medical staff. The impact assessment from Gladmans upon the road system bears no relation to reality when compared to the experience of current residents. From about 7:45 am to 9 am on weekdays, traffic is regularly backed up from the traffic lights at the junction between the A2 and Otterham Quay Lane well past our house and past the lights, it crawls along to the junction with Mierscourt Road. Once traffic gets onto the A2, progress for those wanting to travel towards Sittingbourne will be reasonable, but for those who need to go to Maidstone or London, progress is already slow. Mierscourt Road is the main feeder for Maidstone, but is a semi-rural road, busy already and which will be adversely affected by the cars from so many new homes. People trying to get to the Medway Tunnel in order to travel towards Gravesend or London may choose to use the Lower Rainham Road. However, this is a country lane, restricted to 20 mph for much of its length, so here too, they will encounter hold ups and heavy traffic. The A2, which will give access to other areas of Medway is heavily congested now during much of the day and particularly so during peak periods. Looking at the existing development at the bottom of Otterham Quay Lane, most houses seem to have at least two cars, so it is reasonable to suppose that the proposed development will too and thus the increase in traffic overall will be significant. The proposal is that access will be onto Otterham Quay lane, which is currently a semi rural road with a pavement on one side only, but which is used as a cut through from the Lower Rainham Road to the A2 and is busy at peak periods. The additional traffic joining the Lane from the new site would do so to the south of the railway bridge, which is blind when approaching from the north. This creates an obvious danger as cars from the development would be stationary at the traffic lights. Add in the possible additional traffic from the Persimmon development and 4 Gun Field and there will be standing traffic along the length of the Lane during all peak periods. This will be inconvenient of all road users and will massively increase the noise and air pollution. It is interesting to note that Persimmon’s concede that the noise for their homes will be such that opening windows for ventilation for those closest to the road will be impractical. As the majority of the traffic will come up towards the A2 and past the Gladman’s development, it is inevitable that the same thing will apply to them, but this is not acknowledged by Gladman. The junction between Otterham Quay Lane, Miersborough Lane and Moor Street is difficult already and increasing the volume of traffic from the proposed development will make it very much worse. It is particularly hazardous for pedestrians, who currently have to take their chances. When crossing the A2 from either side of the junction and either side of the road, it is impossible to see into Otterham Quay Lane, so if traffic is stationary at a red light on the A2, it is likely to be exiting OQL and turning into one’s path. The same hazard exists when crossing OQL, in that one cannot see sufficiently far onto the A2 to tell if vehicles are coming round the corner. This issue is of particular relevance when taken in conjunction with the provision of public transport. For new residents wishing to travel by train, there is indeed a good service both up and down (although I have yet to meet anyone who commutes to Exeter from here, as mentioned in Gladmans documentation). The difficulty they will face is in walking to the station, because they will have to cross Otterham Quay Lane, whichever route they take. If they take the shortest, using Wakeley Road, they will have to cross the railway bridge, which only has a path on the west side, opposite the proposed development. Even on the report submitted with the application, the provision of bus services to Maidstone and to Sittingbourne from the area of the development is poor, although the documents submitted are not accurate. 130/131 Buses to Maidstone for those working there go up Mierscourt Road, but it is an infrequent service, so of limited use. The 121 service may be useful for local travel, but as the first bus which goes from Rainham towards Chatham is at 9am, it is impractical for those travelling to work or school. Again, the 326/7 are no use at all for school pupils or workers. Although the 16 is reasonably frequent, the nearest stop is at the bottom of Maidstone Road, which would be a significant walk from the proposed site, probably about 20 minutes. The 132 travelling from the bottom of Mierscourt Road, which is about a 10 minute walk from the new development is frequent and runs at times convenient for children going to senior schools and workers, always assuming they have managed to cross the road safely! Whilst I note that planning permission cannot be refused if notice is given to the company responsible for removing waste, I note that sewage waste will have to be pumped from the site. There should be a requirement for a back up pump and also for provision of a secondary power source during a cut to the mains electricity supply. Failure to make these provisions will render this development and the existing homes that will be affected like something in a developing nation! I am very disappointed to note that the application is so vague relating to energy saving or even energy generation. There is a lot saying what will not be done, but very little positive, save that insulation will be considered. Medway Council should insist on alternative energy generation, such as fitting solar panels if the targets for alternative energy sources are ever to be met. My last objection concerns the loss of green space. This land is an Area of Local Landscape Importance and separates Rainham from Upchurch, as well as providing some recreational space for dog walkers and community activity, such as boot fairs. The desirability of keeping open land and trees cannot be over stated for the beneficial effects they have on the environment. A new development would massively change the character of the Conservation Area, much of which is made up of listed buildings. Along with the need to preserve green space, this has been recognised by Medway Council before when planning permission was refused for development off South Bush Lane behind our own home and also in Seymour Road. Building on every scrap of space will significantly change the aspect of the area for existing residents, most of whom moved here to get out of a highly urbanised environment and whilst there is some small industry in Seymour Road, it utilises existing buildings which might otherwise have fallen into disuse and become unsightly. Whilst we appreciate that much of the land bordering OQL is not currently used for agriculture, it could be converted back if the economics of farming changed. If buildings are erected, the finite resource of space to grow things is lost. The detrimental effect on existing residents both in the immediate area of this proposal and also the wider community should far outweigh the financial benefit to be gained by thie applicant in this case and I urge that the appeal be dismissed. Yours sincerely,
Janet Garnons-Williams |
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Site design and content copyright ©December 2006. Page structure amended September 2012. Menu tables amanded July 2015. Suggestions to Builders May 2017 by Chris Garnons-Williams. DISCLAIMER: Links to external sites are provided as a courtesy to visitors. Ivydene Horticultural Services are not responsible for the content and/or quality of external web sites linked from this site. |
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