If you have a view on the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s plans for a new visitor centre at Spurn then you have the rest of the week to respond.
I say ‘if’, but it is clear that many of you have – and on both sides of the argument.
If you do have a view then I encourage you to voice it. I’m not going to comment on the planning application because I admit I am torn. If (yes, another ‘if’) there should be a new visitor centre, and there are reasons why there should be, then I think the proposed location is probably the best location for it. Or at least, a very strong contender.
But do we need a visitor centre at all? Well, I can see we do to attract visitors and to bring more people to the area but I’m not really sure that that is absolutely necessary.
So I lean a little towards objecting, but I am nowhere near sure that I have a full grasp of the issues and the arguments seem quite finely balanced to me. But clearly not to lots of you who are convinced one way or another.
Two previous guest blogs have appeared here in the past:
Prof Sir John Lawton (President of YWT)’s blog in favour of the now slightly amended plan received 94 comments, 380 Likes and 461 Dislikes.
Georgia Locock’s more recent blog against the proposal received 25 comments, 132 Likes and 67 Dislikes.
And, by the way, I notice that the book The Birds of Spurn is a strong contender, in a strong field, for the bird book of the year in Birdwatch‘s Birders’ Choice Awards.
And by another way, the colour-ringed and flagged Knot that I was looking at (just before a Red-flanked Bluetail) was ringed locally and recently on the Humber Estuary.
If some one gave you a wad of cash and you did not know what to do with it would you just go out a build a visitor centre away from the present car park? You visited the Blue Bell what is wrong with that location as you already have a section of water to look over ?
Mark, with the very greatest of respect and in the interests of accuracy I must point out that likes and dislikes count for nothing. It is comments which matter. When Sir John Lawton wrote a guest blog the comments were almost all against his arguments for the location of the proposed visitor centre. When Georgia wrote her guest blog against the location the comments were almost all in favour of hers. You must be aware that anyone can press like/dislike on your blog. It is meaningless. I just had a go myself.
Jan
With the greatest respect you might be right. Or wrong. Or somewhere in between.
Maybe we should stop and have a think about the local communities wishes here, rather than kicking them in the face again? Had the protest signs (not long since taken down) been put back up by residents all along the Easington-Kilnsea Road by the time you last visited, Mark? Or should they be grateful that YWT CEO Rob Stoneman is finally putting Kilnsea ‘on the map’ (that went down well with the community), and saving the site from those selfish bird hoarders at the Observatory (which also went down well- the man really does have a gift for public relations). This really is a sorry tale of a Wildlife Trust needlessly ostracising a community and building resentment that could last for generations.
Jim – there were quite a few protest signs, yes.
I agree that feelings are certainly high.
Mark, could you expand on why you feel the Triangle Field is ‘probably’ the best spot for a visitor centre?
Martin WW – I can, but only if I preface these remarks with a reminder that I said I was torn but leaning towards being unkeen on the proposal.
When enjoying a sausage sandwich in the Blue Bell cafe I looked at the YWT booklet on the issue – I can’t put my hand on it right now. From memory there were several potential sites evaluated and, surprise surprise, the YWT top option was the only one that ticked all the boxes. But, that analysis was quite informative. If (I say again) it is a good idea to have a visitor centre then it needs car parking nearby and car parking which will relieve the pressure on other parts of the general area. That kind of rules out Kilnsea Wetlands (much though I now lobve it as the location of my first Red-flanked Bluetail) because people would go to the visitor centre and then, many of them, go on further up the road and cause the same car parking issues as now.
I do wonder how many developments Wildlife Trusts have objected to for sites with a similar biodiversity interest to the one which would be the site of the new visitor centre?
But I’m not convinced that I know enough about the options to comment one way or the other, formally, on the planning proposal. Do you have a view – sounds as though you might?
The ‘booklet’ you refer to is available here http://www.ywt.org.uk/spurn-visitor-centre#Brochure%20Download.
To take the booklet table header points one by one. Firstly “natural entry point for visitor management” well the Blue Bell cafe and the proposed VC are on the same road so that’s not a valid arguement. Secondly “ability for flood resistance”. The proposed site for the new VC was under 6 foot of water in 2013. Three. Yes it would be preferable to have a ‘purpose built’ VC but it is not essential. Four “car parking provision”. YWT are proposing to build a car park on a field that is a regular stop off point for whimbrel. This is from their own website “2012 -The WREN-funded Outer Humber Project saw grazing of the Humber saltmarsh for the first time in 50 years. We fought off a damaging planning application close to Wheldrake Ings which would have had disasterous consequences for whimbrel, which use the site during spring migration.” Five…..see four for just one example. The recent brown shrike chose the site of the proposed VC too. Six. Does the VC need to be ‘away from residential properties’? Has YWT asked the residents? (I very much doubt it with their recent behaviour in mind). And finally ‘wildlife viewing opportunities’. The whole area is a wildlife viewing opportunity. That’s what makes it so special.
As you will now realise I am vehemently against the proposed siting of a new VC. I am also disgusted at the way YWT have behaved over this affair and how they have done their best to alienate and annoy local residents and other local wildlife groups. They have also worked in an underhand manner (examples of which I will decline to detail in a public forum) to exaggerate the amount of support for their proposed VC.
Martin – I do realise where you are on this subject! Thank you.
I have read a few of the blog post here and by John Armitage and have only visited Spurn once. I still can’t claim any grasp of the subject but it has reminded me of one incident.
I was a beginner birder in the UK, having cut my teeth in India before the era of field guides.
I was at Leighton Moss, when John Wilson the warden, happened to be in the hide. I am not i even knew who he was. I commented that wouldn’t it be great if there was a track beside the railway line to get to the far hide which was/is off limits to the public (but at that moment would have given great views of some far off suspected Curlew Sandpipers – a lifer for me at that time). John was horrified, ‘what and lose valuable habitat’.
Things like that stick with you especially when coming from such a generous and friendly man who never failed to say hello, apparently to everyone.
Anand – Nice story. John was, and still is, a lovely fellow.
Yes. And he even appears to do the same even now when he is retired even though i am fairly sure that those words are the only words i have ever spoken to him.
When you go to a special area to watch birds, its a place you would expect to be wild, rugged, and a somewhat natural habitat. Plonk a visitor center in the middle of it, with a substancial car/coach park, and it becomes an unnatural habitate. The siting of the proposed Visitor center takes up habitat used by migrating birds, and has been for probably 1000 years plus. I am not objecting to a Visitor center, the one at Bempton is a real success. It encourages and educates children and adults to learn about and appreciate wild life. The proposed siting is also in a flood area, which has been well advertised. In fact it was one of the reasons the first planning application was refused. On another note, YWT have objected to all planning applications for new builds from people in the Kilnsea area, including a request from the caravan site, on the grounds that it IS a conservation area. Smells a little of “Do as i say not as i do”.