News
Brilliant news! BBC Studios and ITV Studios pull support for Swanscombe theme park
Monday 28 February 2022
Our friends at CPRE Kent are among a coalition of charities to welcome the decision by BBC Studios and ITV Studios to withdraw their support for a proposed theme park in north Kent that would have a devastating impact on a nationally important wildlife site. We are now calling on Paramount Entertainment to similarly publicly […] Read more >
Public asked to become citizen scientists in annual Star Count to map light pollution in our skies
Monday 28 February 2022
People are being asked to take part in the annual Star Count to record how clear our view is of the night sky. CPRE, the countryside charity, is working with the British Astronomical Association’s Commission for Dark Skies to map light pollution levels across the country. In the biggest citizen science project of its kind […] Read more >
Be a part of Star Count 2022: it’s almost with us!
Monday 21 February 2022
For two weeks in February and March 2022, we’re again asking for your help in looking up at the heavens. Can you help us by counting stars to measure our dark skies? We think that dark and starry skies are a special part of our countryside. Nothing beats looking upwards to see velvety blackness, with […] Read more >
Wethersfield airfield: CPRE Essex position statement
Friday 18 February 2022
The future of the former airfield at RAF Wethersfield, near Braintree, has been the subject of some considerable conjecture. It was three years ago that Homes England and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation floated the idea of developing almost 5,000 houses at the site, but that has been superseded by a proposal from the Ministry of […] Read more >
Our next talk is on Wednesday, February 23, and entitled Faith in Farming?
Wednesday 16 February 2022
The first two in our winter series of talks have gone down exceptionally well, so you might want to note a slight change in the order of the final two. We now have Rev Canon Janet Nicholls, rural adviser and agricultural chaplain, giving her talk, Faith in Farming?, on Wednesday, February 23, and Christy Willet, […] Read more >
Talk highlights how our farming environment can make a place for wildlife
Wednesday 16 February 2022
It’s fair to say that we could probably all do with a lift in spirits right now – and it duly came with the second in our winter series of talks. Rebecca Inman, of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, presented The Farming Environment to a Zoom audience of 33 participants, who showed their appreciation […] Read more >
At last, the meeting to get examination of London Resort under way has a date
Tuesday 15 February 2022
Whisper it quietly (or not), but we are finally seeing progress with examination of the proposed London Resort theme park at Swanscombe. After delays and uncertainty caused by developer LRCH asking for more time to address both transport issues and the peninsula’s designation as a Site of Scientific Interest – together with its failure to […] Read more >
Lower Thames Crossing: learn the latest about the scheme at four drop-in events
Friday 11 February 2022
In one of our longer-running sagas, National Highways (formerly Highways England) has announced four Lower Thames Crossing drop-in events at which visitors can learn about project updates and ask any questions they have. We are told there will be information about proposed routes for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders, along with news of how the government […] Read more >
A strangely striking reminder of darker times
Friday 11 February 2022
Ace photographer Gordon Ridgewell today offers “conservation of a different nature with these Birds of the Sky”. “They cost around £3,000,000 each at auction these days,” he tells us. “A friend of mine who volunteers at IWM Duxford offered to take me to the Spitfire exhibition. “It is only five miles from my home village […] Read more >
Ensure local parks and green spaces are given the same protection as national parks, says CPRE
Thursday 10 February 2022
There is huge untapped potential to level up access to nature for people living in our towns and cities by giving local parks the same sorts of protection from development as national parks. A little-known yet hugely powerful rule allows local communities to ringfence their recreation grounds, community gardens, fields popular with dog-walkers and other […] Read more >