NHS patients waiting for surgery in Lincolnshire could face a further one year delay for a new surgical centre, as the developers have to prove that they are providing "integrated bat bricks" and "provisions for hedgehogs to pass" https://x.com/dc_lawrence/status/1983173907294122432
Why does that take a year? Should take less than a day to sort the bat bricks.
It is all the BNG paperwork. Nobody wants to do it.
It won't be the bat bricks as such, but plan that has to prove that the maintenance of whatever has been agreed will continue for 30 years, and the 500 page document required to say 'don't mow this' is just an added insult.
Mrs Flatlander refuses to do them - it is just too much tedious crap that has nothing to do with actual ecology.
Some of this is supposed to be ending, in that there will instead be "habitat banks" to whom the developers can pay indulgences, but even setting up a habitat bank is mired in stupid rules that don't benefit the environment. Don't ask me how I know...
Everyone has forgotten the hedgehogs....
The bats et them. There was a brief-but-violent Hedgehog-Bat War. Crude spears were fashioned. But the bats had air superiority.
NHS patients waiting for surgery in Lincolnshire could face a further one year delay for a new surgical centre, as the developers have to prove that they are providing "integrated bat bricks" and "provisions for hedgehogs to pass" https://x.com/dc_lawrence/status/1983173907294122432
Why does that take a year? Should take less than a day to sort the bat bricks.
I see no evidence of there being any truth in the claim - where's the delay and the plans on hold? Lawrence got it from a YIMBY feed, and the planning condition says that plans for the hedgehog routes through fences etc must be provided WITHIN 3 MONTHS OF COMMENCEMENT. I'm inclined to call BS.
Wearing my cynical head, I'd say someone is trying to stir up the Mail and Telegraph about helping nature. I have not traced the rabbit hole. David Lawrence @dc_lawrence Oct 28 However, the plans have been put on hold as the council waits for a "biodiversity enhancement plan" including details of integrated bat bricks, nesting sites, "areas to support reptiles" and routes for hedgehogs.
NHS patients waiting for surgery in Lincolnshire could face a further one year delay for a new surgical centre, as the developers have to prove that they are providing "integrated bat bricks" and "provisions for hedgehogs to pass" https://x.com/dc_lawrence/status/1983173907294122432
Why does that take a year? Should take less than a day to sort the bat bricks.
NHS patients waiting for surgery in Lincolnshire could face a further one year delay for a new surgical centre, as the developers have to prove that they are providing "integrated bat bricks" and "provisions for hedgehogs to pass" https://x.com/dc_lawrence/status/1983173907294122432
Why does that take a year? Should take less than a day to sort the bat bricks.
Sounds like the developer is making excuses to me. Planning permission was granted in July.
"The condition you refer to is not a pre-commencement condition, the developer currently has pending applications to discharge actual pre-commencement conditions and a s73 app to alter the FFLs, the LPA is not prioritising hedgehogs over people now is it"
I don't know exactly what is going on here, but it's not bats and hedgehogs that are causing the issues.
An asylum seeker who "calmly" walked into a bank and stabbed a man inside to death without provocation or motive has been jailed for life.
Haybe Cabdiraxmaan Nur stabbed Gurvinder Johal, 37, through the heart in an attack caught on CCTV at a Lloyds Bank branch in St Peter's Street, Derby, just after 14:30 BST on 6 May.
Mr Johal's family said Nur - who Derby Crown Court heard arrived on small boat in the UK after spending a few years in Europe. The court heard Nur, who arrived in the UK in October 2024, had previously spent time in Italy, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
The court heard that Nur had previously been arrested in the UK for violence and public order offences in December 2024, when he was heard shouting 'f*** the English' and 'white racist b*******' while trying to run into traffic. On that occasion, he was said to have headbutted a construction worker, but no charges were brought against him. But Mr Mably said that the defendant was also known to the police in four European countries – France, Luxembourg, Italy and Germany – in the years before he arrived in the UK, after being arrested for a variety of offences.
NHS patients waiting for surgery in Lincolnshire could face a further one year delay for a new surgical centre, as the developers have to prove that they are providing "integrated bat bricks" and "provisions for hedgehogs to pass" https://x.com/dc_lawrence/status/1983173907294122432
Why does that take a year? Should take less than a day to sort the bat bricks.
NHS patients waiting for surgery in Lincolnshire could face a further one year delay for a new surgical centre, as the developers have to prove that they are providing "integrated bat bricks" and "provisions for hedgehogs to pass" https://x.com/dc_lawrence/status/1983173907294122432
Why does that take a year? Should take less than a day to sort the bat bricks.
Sounds like the developer is making excuses to me. Planning permission was granted in July.
"The condition you refer to is not a pre-commencement condition, the developer currently has pending applications to discharge actual pre-commencement conditions and a s73 app to alter the FFLs, the LPA is not prioritising hedgehogs over people now is it"
I don't know exactly what is going on here, but it's not bats and hedgehogs that are causing the issues.
It doesn't look like a biodiversity hotspot to me.
Thanks for finding that. A biodiveristy gain plan is one of the commencement conditions. The requirement for a traffic management plan to be approved seems like an even more egregious requirement. A general commitment not to be a dick and to clean up after themselves would seem to be sufficient.
NHS patients waiting for surgery in Lincolnshire could face a further one year delay for a new surgical centre, as the developers have to prove that they are providing "integrated bat bricks" and "provisions for hedgehogs to pass" https://x.com/dc_lawrence/status/1983173907294122432
Why does that take a year? Should take less than a day to sort the bat bricks.
It is all the BNG paperwork. Nobody wants to do it.
It won't be the bat bricks as such, but plan that has to prove that the maintenance of whatever has been agreed will continue for 30 years, and the 500 page document required to say 'don't mow this' is just an added insult.
Mrs Flatlander refuses to do them - it is just too much tedious crap that has nothing to do with actual ecology.
Some of this is supposed to be ending, in that there will instead be "habitat banks" to whom the developers can pay indulgences, but even setting up a habitat bank is mired in stupid rules that don't benefit the environment. Don't ask me how I know...
NHS patients waiting for surgery in Lincolnshire could face a further one year delay for a new surgical centre, as the developers have to prove that they are providing "integrated bat bricks" and "provisions for hedgehogs to pass" https://x.com/dc_lawrence/status/1983173907294122432
Why does that take a year? Should take less than a day to sort the bat bricks.
NHS patients waiting for surgery in Lincolnshire could face a further one year delay for a new surgical centre, as the developers have to prove that they are providing "integrated bat bricks" and "provisions for hedgehogs to pass" https://x.com/dc_lawrence/status/1983173907294122432
Why does that take a year? Should take less than a day to sort the bat bricks.
Sounds like the developer is making excuses to me. Planning permission was granted in July.
"The condition you refer to is not a pre-commencement condition, the developer currently has pending applications to discharge actual pre-commencement conditions and a s73 app to alter the FFLs, the LPA is not prioritising hedgehogs over people now is it"
I don't know exactly what is going on here, but it's not bats and hedgehogs that are causing the issues.
It doesn't look like a biodiversity hotspot to me.
That's putting it mildly. A small parcel of land between a major road and the Scunthorpe Driving Test Centre.
You piqued my curiosity enough to actually read some of the documents, and it seems that what's going on is actually an argument around the adequacy of the geotechnical report, as the site was once used for building waste landfill.
'Historical Landfill Site', 'Licenced Waste Management Facilities' and "Registered Landfill Site' records encroaching on to the southern part of the Site only, although extending off-Site to the south (170 m) and east (360 m); • The Historical Landfill Site entry noted the first input date for the landfill as being 31st December 1996 and the specified waste as 'Deposited Waste Included Inert Waste; The Licenced Waste Management Facilities entry is named 'Bessemer Way Landfill', categorised for 'Non-biodegradable Wastes (Not Construction) with a Medium input rate (Equal to or greater than 25,000 and less than 75,000 tonnes per year). The licence was issued 24th July 1996; and Further to information included above, the Registered Landfill Site entry noted that Bessemer Way Landfill was authorised to accept the following waste types; Brick, Stone, Concrete, Building Blocks, Building Sand, Tiles/Other Fired Materials, Slate, Solid Uncontaminated Earth/Excavation Waste/Gravel.
..It is acknowledged the boundary of the landfill may not be accurately mapped and the landfill may extend further into the Site, however, even if all the Site were landfilled, this would still be <10% of the total landfill area. However, as noted above, the available records indicate that the landfill comprises inert, non- putrescible materials, with no indication that potentially contaminated industrial wastes were deposited at or near the Site. The potential for contamination on-Site, or indeed off-Site associated with landfill is considered to be low at this stage. Site investigation is required to confirm the fill materials are consistent with permitted wastes types listed above...
Election day here in Washington state is next Tuesday. Which means that ballots must be postmarked by that day, to be counted. Since it is an odd-numbered year, I like to think of it as an off-off-year election. But there are a few interesting races, even so.
Yesterday, something happened that I can not recall ever happening to me before. As I was walking by the local library, I encountered three East Asians, trying to figure out what to do with a ballot. There are four possibiliities: put the ballot in the outgoing section of your mail box (if it is a new one, or put the flag up if it is an old one), take it to a box at city hall, put it in a mailbox on a street somewhere, or take it to the local post office. (I prefer the last.) I'm not sure which one they were looking for.
The library opens at noon on Tuesdays, and it was about 11 in the morning, so what I should have done was taken the three to the post office, which is less than a 10 minute walk from the library. But I was carrying a heavy bag of groceries, so I just pointed them in the general direction. (Yes, the extra exercise would have done me good.)
And now I have to fill out my own ballot, which I will take to the post office tomorrow morning.
(It is possible to vote in person in Washington state. As I recall, each county is required to have one place open for those who prefer voting in person, or need assistance. Not many do it, especially in the counties with larger populations. Oh, and you can register to vote on election day, which would require going to one of those centers.)
Britain's newest rail station: Beaulieu Park, near Chelmsford, opened Sunday. I took this pic yesterday:
A fairly substantial enterprise, with three 12-car platforms, almost full-length canopies, two footbridges, two lifts, food outlets (upcoming), a bus station, two sets of loos, and a large car park, which seemed well-used.
Comments
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200/1 bar
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NEW THREAD
Wearing my cynical head, I'd say someone is trying to stir up the Mail and Telegraph about helping nature. I have not traced the rabbit hole.
David Lawrence @dc_lawrence Oct 28
However, the plans have been put on hold as the council waits for a "biodiversity enhancement plan" including details of integrated bat bricks, nesting sites, "areas to support reptiles" and routes for hedgehogs.
https://apps.northlincs.gov.uk/disco/pa-2025-1113
It does include Hedgehogs and Bats, but also lots of other things, so it is possible there is something else going on.
I believe this is the site:
https://www.bing.com/maps/search?FORM=Z9LH2&style=h&srs=sb&cp=53.600762~-0.651454&lvl=19.9
It doesn't look like a biodiversity hotspot to me.
Or do we see Farage as a moderate elected in 2029, alongside a load of the “Tommy” supporters?
A small parcel of land between a major road and the Scunthorpe Driving Test Centre.
You piqued my curiosity enough to actually read some of the documents, and it seems that what's going on is actually an argument around the adequacy of the geotechnical report, as the site was once used for building waste landfill.
'Historical Landfill Site', 'Licenced Waste Management Facilities' and "Registered
Landfill Site' records encroaching on to the southern part of the Site only, although
extending off-Site to the south (170 m) and east (360 m);
• The Historical Landfill Site entry noted the first input date for the landfill as being
31st December 1996 and the specified waste as 'Deposited Waste Included
Inert Waste;
The Licenced Waste Management Facilities entry is named 'Bessemer Way
Landfill', categorised for 'Non-biodegradable Wastes (Not Construction) with a
Medium input rate (Equal to or greater than 25,000 and less than 75,000 tonnes
per year). The licence was issued 24th July 1996; and
Further to information included above, the Registered Landfill Site entry noted
that Bessemer Way Landfill was authorised to accept the following waste types;
Brick, Stone, Concrete, Building Blocks, Building Sand, Tiles/Other Fired
Materials, Slate, Solid Uncontaminated Earth/Excavation Waste/Gravel.
..It is acknowledged the boundary of the landfill may not be accurately mapped and
the landfill may extend further into the Site, however, even if all the Site were landfilled, this
would still be <10% of the total landfill area.
However, as noted above, the available records indicate that the landfill comprises inert, non-
putrescible materials, with no indication that potentially contaminated industrial wastes were
deposited at or near the Site. The potential for contamination on-Site, or indeed off-Site
associated with landfill is considered to be low at this stage. Site investigation is required to
confirm the fill materials are consistent with permitted wastes types listed above...
Yesterday, something happened that I can not recall ever happening to me before. As I was walking by the local library, I encountered three East Asians, trying to figure out what to do with a ballot. There are four possibiliities: put the ballot in the outgoing section of your mail box (if it is a new one, or put the flag up if it is an old one), take it to a box at city hall, put it in a mailbox on a street somewhere, or take it to the local post office. (I prefer the last.) I'm not sure which one they were looking for.
The library opens at noon on Tuesdays, and it was about 11 in the morning, so what I should have done was taken the three to the post office, which is less than a 10 minute walk from the library. But I was carrying a heavy bag of groceries, so I just pointed them in the general direction. (Yes, the extra exercise would have done me good.)
And now I have to fill out my own ballot, which I will take to the post office tomorrow morning.
(It is possible to vote in person in Washington state. As I recall, each county is required to have one place open for those who prefer voting in person, or need assistance. Not many do it, especially in the counties with larger populations. Oh, and you can register to vote on election day, which would require going to one of those centers.)
A fairly substantial enterprise, with three 12-car platforms, almost full-length canopies, two footbridges, two lifts, food outlets (upcoming), a bus station, two sets of loos, and a large car park, which seemed well-used.
Full suite of pictures here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=Sunil060902+Beaulieu+Park&title=Special:MediaSearch&type=image