Pikers Win Battle To Save Fen Lodes

Fantastic news : Well done to the Cambridge lads for fighting and winning this one...

Sorry if I come across as a pessimist, but I'm not convinced that anything has been won. A 'five year reprieve' suggests to me that the NT mayhave simply posponed their activities temporarily, probably in order to purchase even more strategic land ownership.

I'm notmeaning to take anything away from those people who have brought about this stay of execution, it's a credit to their tenacity, however I would urge all interested parties not to drop their vigilance.

The five year thing comes from the Environment Agency. They review the management of things which cost money to maintain and there is an ongoing maintenance cost with the Lodes.The National Trust has categorically denied it wants to lower or damage the lodes and points to the fact it would not be spending hundreds of thousands building new bridges across them, among other things, were this the case.

They refuted the statement from Gordon Brown's office at some length after it was e-mailed to petitioners last week. The strategic land ownership issue is a much longer-term thing than five years.

Great news.

Now..back to work/forum/smilies/sad_smiley.gif

Speaking as someone who in the past has worked for a number of years on Wicken Fen for the National Trust, I can assure you that their objective has always been to increase the levels of water on the fen, and consequently the surrounding farm land,which has in turn caused conflict with the local farmers who's aspirations were not surprisinglyin direct opposition to the Trust's. The maintenence of the Lodesis the very antithesis of this thinking,their function being to carry awayexcess run off of waterfrom the neighbouring chalk and keep theadjacent fenlandworkable.

It's patently obvious to welocalsthat now that the charity haspurchaseda healthy acreage of the arable land between the two drains maintenanceof the interlinking drainage system has all but ceased, and the once rich farm land, a diverse and wealthy habitat in itself, has rapidly fallen into decline.

If you'll excuse the pun, I 'trust' not a word of their soundbite.

"Maintenanceof the interlinking drainage system has all but ceased".

This has not gone unnoticed, time will tell.

Keep us infored here on FM chris, and I'm sure We will do whatever we can to support the cause...