A nice article from today’s Guardian about how Wandsworth Borough Council is “sanitising” a number of its green spaces – including the two commons within walking distance of my house.
A year ago you could stand in the middle of Wandsworth Common, south London, and imagine, without too much effort, that you were in the countryside. Not any more. Last autumn the local council declared war on nature and has since waged an unremitting campaign against anything green that gets out of place – trees, shrubs, long grass, brambles, nettles. Even wild flowers planted with lottery money have been mercilessly cut back.
At Tooting Common, a mile or so south, much the same has happened. Beginning in the spring of last year, trees and woodland undergrowth have been razed to the ground, a bat roost destroyed and the local bird and insect population deprived of much of its cover and food.
Apparently the destruction of the bat roost was illegal.