Letter: Read All About This Bird-Brained Scheme

Published on: 16 Jan, 2018
Updated on: 18 Jan, 2018

From Gordon Bridger

Hon alderman and former Mayor of Guildford

Readers might wish to see an article in The Spectator: Building artificial beauty spots to protect nests is a bird-brained idea.

It is an accurate and entertaining article by Melissa Kite on a  scheme which  puts a tax on new homes to  fund a scheme which is supposed to help protect birds from local residents despite the fact that it was weather which led to a loss of birds and they are now restored to their original numbers  Do readers know:

• almost all new houses built in Guildford over the next 125 years will have to make a financial contribution to this scheme. In the new GBC plan, we need to provide around 12,500 houses and almost all will have to pay a tariff of around  £6,500 per house. The total amount raised would be £81 million (just for the next 15 years)
• how many birds are there on Whitmoor Common and Wisley and Ockham? The two main SPAs have just 22 nests (2016). Their natural number assuming the average normal land ratio to bird numbers could, as a guess, be between 40 and 60.

In her very perceptive article, Ms Kite points out correctly that on the 13 SPAs covering 11 local authority areas there are only around 1,000 nests (in 2017) – and they are already back to their normal figure of some 25 years ago. So why these massive funds for so long having to be paid for by a tax on new homes? Truly we are in Lewis Carroll territory.

Councillors have been consistently misled about the scheme and important facts as bird numbers and costs have been withheld from them – though they could and should have asked for them.

What really annoys me about this scheme was that I was the only councillor to challenge it when approval was sought. We were told that it was a compulsory EU directive. It was not. Local councils could choose the best solution.

Even more annoying, in September 2016, when a consultation on effectiveness after 10 years was circulated, I wrote a very critical report on it which I sent privately in a friendly way to Cllr Paul Spooner, pointing out the many defects, in an attempt to avoid this confrontation.

I was called to a meeting to discuss it. Cllr Spooner appeared to agree it made no sense but, for reasons I could not fathom, did not want it to go to the scrutiny committee, which would have been a sensible step.

Many months later, a report from officers went to the Executive committee which failed to tell councillors that it was weather that was the problem, omitted any details of the few birds involved and said nothing about costs. It just blamed local residents.

My comments which set out “why the scheme was not working” was quite disgracefully ignored as it “was against policy”.

I had been told that I would be able to comment on the report, but only heard about it by accident and asked to speak at the Executive meeting. A hastily obtained barrister’s report, some 16 pages long, was produced at the meeting which effectively said the council report had to be approved.

My verbal statement, which pointed out that there were only six nests on Whitmoor Common that the council’s own officers had stated was due to weather, was ignored, as was my urging that the council submit it to the scrutiny committee.

Having spurned my well-intentioned advice I have no alternative but to publicise the help offered.

It has now got worse. I have discovered that the GBC plan expected anything between £68 million and maybe £90 million to be raised to protect these birds over the next 125 years. Unbelievable.

This is a story of deceit, incompetence and maladministration, which is adding millions of pounds to the cost of homes, all to fund a scheme to assist birds which do not need the help of SANGs to survive.

According to the latest RSPB report, the birds are now flourishing. It is a huge waste of money. Those who have paid may ask for their money back.

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