Old Tidemill School Community Garden under threat

Wildlife Garden Threatened by Development

Objections to a proposed new development on Old Tidemill School community gardens in Deptford have been made by the Friends of Old Tidemill School Garden, a community group of which I am a member.  The development will have a serious impact on the standard of living of local residents – particularly the school children who were moved from this site to the New Tidemill School in Deptford Lounge, for whom this garden is supposed to be their natural environment/science/garden space and as the community garden acts as a pair of lungs for the local area, filtering out toxic nitrogen di-oxide and carbon gases generated by the traffic surrounding the area on all sides.  Myself and my husband have volunteered in the garden and our family has participated in events held in  Old Tidemill School garden and I have been part of the community kitchen project cooking meals with vulnerable people and enjoying the sense of community cohesion and well-being that this project brings to people who would otherwise be isolated and dis-engaged from their local community.

In addition to the general planning objections from Friends and Local people regarding loss of a valuable community asset if the proposed development goes ahead; loss of biodiversity and access to nature, negative impact on air quality and climate change, flood risk, and inappropriate development of a public open space, I have added in arguments in support of the rights of the children under the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child:

Educational Open Space and the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child:
Exploring the potential to achieve greater public access to housing and educational open
space where current access is restricted. OTWG fulfills the need for provision for
educational open space.

The new development makes no allowances for education to take place within the new development, and as such doesn’t support the rights of young people in particular with regard to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC):

Article 29: Education should teach children to respect the natural environment – if Old Tidemill Gardens are taken away as a green and open and nature space for children how are we going to teach them respect for the natural  environment when one of the most accessible and truly natural environments will have been taken away from them.

Article 3 stipulates that “all organistions concerned with children (Lewisham Borough Council in this case) should work towards what is best for each child;

Articles 15 &  31: All children have the right to meet, make friends with and join clubs with other children  & All children have the right to relax and play, land to join a wide range of activities – if Old Tidemill Gardens are developed and an important and necessary (for all the reasons stated above) community garden is removed from the children they will have lost a vital outdoor space in which to play with and meet other children;

and finally and equally importantly Article 24 states that: All children have a right to good health and a clean environment so they stay healthy.