2 comments

• Comment Link Thursday, 07 February 2013 18:59 posted by Richard

  My objections, as sent to Surrey C. C. ...
  
  Watersplash Farm, Gaston Bridge Road and Fordbridge Road, Sunbury On Thames, TW16 6AU.
  
  I wish to object to the planning application to dig out Watersplash Farm and extract the gravel there. I have two reasons for this objection: firstly the likely effect on flooding in the locality and secondly the loss of potential archaeological and geological information.
  
  Flooding. The susceptibility of the Shepperton and Lower Sunbury area to flooding is well known – especially to the residents - and anything that may make it worse is to be avoided.
  The subterranean gravel beds allow surplus groundwater to pass harmlessly away underground in times of heavy rain, rather than being confined to the open rivers, where it causes them to burst their banks and cause flooding. Replacing the porous gravel beds with solid inert material will prevent this and cause the flooding already prevalent in this area to become worse.
  After heavy rain the subterranean water table rises and the volume of the gravel beds normally above the water table serves to absorb large quantities of surplus water, acting as a reservoir of water which otherwise would add to the flood water. Again, replacing the gravel with inert solid infill material will prevent this and again, will make the local flooding situation worse.
  
  Archaeology and Geology. Watersplash Farm is one of the very few areas in this locality that has not, so far, been dug out for either building or gravel extraction. As such it is a near unique reference area for what was here before modern times and should be preserved for what information, as yet undetermined, that it may contain and which may be discovered by the currently unavailable technology of the future.
  
  I am aware that Cemex arranged for Wessex Archaeology to dig some exploratory trenches on the site, but it seems that these were little more than digging a few holes, based on vague crop-markings, and having a quick look to see if there was anything obvious there. This is hardly adequate for one of the last remaining undisturbed sites in the area. Archaeological and geological science is improving all the time and archaeologists equipped with the tools of the future will be able to discern things from an undisturbed site that are not apparent even with the technology currently available.
  It is important at this point to re-state and emphasise that Watersplash Farm this is one of the very few such undisturbed sites left in this area and as such it should be preserved for future scientific investigation.
  
  Adding to the importance of this site is the existence of a medieval roadway – untouched since its abandonment approximately 200 years ago – right across the middle of the site. This is referred to on Cemex's website, but it is unclear if even the perfunctory archaeological investigations that have been made so far actually impinge on the course of this roadway or if they have missed it completely. It also does not make the point that this roadway, which led to the one-time ferry across the Thames at the end of what is now Felix Lane, was abandoned in the early 1800s with the opening of Gaston Bridge Road nearby (serving Walton Bridge, which replaced the ferry). The area of this road since its abandonment has only been used for agriculture, meaning that any archaeology there will have been left largely undisturbed.
  What is more, much of the actual line of the ancient road has been further preserved as a public footpath and farm track and as such, much of it may even have been protected from the usual degradation by ploughing.
  
  In making this objection I am not trying to save every open space there is from mineral extraction – that would clearly be impossible. But in view of the near uniqueness of the information this site may hold, as well as its value in preventing flooding, I believe it should be kept undisturbed for posterity and for what information the science and technology of the future may make of it.
• Comment Link Tuesday, 29 January 2013 19:52 posted by John Hirsh

  To Chris. Many thanks for your comment on the earlier announcement (16th November). LOSRA will be sure to pass this on to Alan Stones at Surrey CC