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I am emailing from the Medway Valley
Countryside Partnership. I manage a large Invasive Non Native Species
(INNS) Control Programme for the partnership and since we also support a
large team of award winning volunteers, the Environment Agency have
asked us to address the Himalayan balsam issue in the River Darent
around Sundridge.
Although this plant is quite pretty it out
competes our native riparian plants and it can also clog the watercourse
and potentially cause flooding. For this latter reason the E.A have
asked us to manually remove the plants in the river system around
Sundridge in 2012/13. With assistance from our environmental volunteers
we will pull the plants up by the roots.
At present we have two task day's planned
in 2012: Thursday 3rd May and Thursday 7th June. Our volunteers always
work on Thursday's, hence this day in the week for the tasks.
I wanted to of course let you know what
was planned and to ask you to contact me if you have any questions or
comments.
I would also welcome you letting the local
residence now, perhaps with a small notice on your website or in the
next parish newsletter perhaps. This way the local people will know what
we are doing when they see us working on site. Please let me know if you
want me to draft something for you.
If any local residence or councillors
which to join in on the task day they are more than welcome (although I
will need to know numbers before hand and they will have to abide by the
H&S information given).
The first day we will concentrate on the
green space and small channels where the A25 meets the B211, as this
location is the one most prone to flooding and is therefore our
priority. We will also however, on the 2nd day, work further upstream
if possible and as such I would welcome hearing from you with any
relevant local landowner information you can give me.
I will look forward to hearing from you
about this and to working with you regarding this matter in the near
future. In the meantime, for your interest and so you know a little bit
more about the work we do, please refer to the website below and see our
Invasive Species Project newsletter attached.
Kind regards
Andrea Griffiths
(BSc Hons)
Partnership Officer
Medway Valley Countryside Partnership
Customer and Communities
Kent County Council
3 Lock Cottages
Lock Lane
Sandling
Kent
ME14 3AU
01622 683695
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