Wicken Fen Needs Forward Planning

WHAT is Geoffrey Woollard s problem? Of all the developments that one might be a NIMBY about, a nature reserve seems one of the more desirable. As a county, Cambridgeshire has one of the landscapes that has been most impacted by human activity – drainage,

WHAT is Geoffrey Woollard's problem? Of all the developments that one might be a NIMBY about, a nature reserve seems one of the more desirable. As a county, Cambridgeshire has one of the landscapes that has been most impacted by human activity - drainage, agriculture and now housing. So any plan for restoration of some bio-diverse habitat is surely to be welcomed. It is also refreshing to find some organisation prepared to plan in decades rather than months.

The notion that the reserve would be an unmanaged "jungle of elder bushes, ragwort and stinging nettles" is ridiculous. Mr Woollard's concern about loss of food producing land is also unconvincing, at a time when a far greater area is in the process of conversion to domestic housing, roads and commercial uses. The suggestion that areas adjacent to non-reserve land will be flooded to the detriment of the latter, lacks evidence or common sense.

So, Mr Woollard, let's think big for a change. I am sorry that neither of us will be around in 2100 to see the end result.

ROY MACLEAN

Red Lion Lane

Sutton.