Another successful evening for the TLS Annual Meeting. Hosted by our partners at Kew Gardens in the Orangery, this year saw the TLS’s 20th Annual Meeting with the focus being very much on the future, current policy, and what it would mean for the TLS.
Following an introduction by the TLS Chairman, Cllr Paul Lynch (Hounslow) and the new Director of Kew Gardens, Richard Deverell, Friends were invited to listen to a series of talks and presentations regarding, what turned out to be, an extremely topical subject.
Speakers from the Environment Agency, Greater London Authority, and Your Tidal Thames Stekholder Partnership addressed over 280 Friends representing over 100 orgnaisations and local community groups – each of whom can take something back to their respective groups and start asking the questions. Further talks are being organised with the TLS visiting these groups and partners to expand on these areas of discussion.
The topic of the discussions focused on the future of landscape planning and management, particularly policies and strategies for how the landscapes of the Thames and its tributaries are to be managed for floodrisk and water management, greenspace development and opportunities, water framework directive and good ecological potential. Little did we know quite how poinient the discussion would be as less than two weeks later parts of the TLS area were experiencing some of the issues outlined.
The talks covered the detail of the All London Green Grid – London’s strategy for greenspace management, the Water Framework Directive as National policy, Flood Risk Management in respect fo the EA’s proposals for the Lower Thames and Thames Estuary, the Your Tidal Thames Stakeholder Group representing the local groups and land owners of the Tidal Thames and how projects and policies should be created for the local area, and a specific example of how planning policy can impact species with a talk on the impact of waterside lighting on bats. This was then rounded off by Jason’s talk on how the TLS is tieing all these elements together to develop projects and strategic guidence to promote local issues and showcase small and largescale projects that can really build on these ideals – such as the Home Park Paddocks Project which was the first full project of the TLS’s Restoration of the Lost Floodplain and saw the re-instatement of old channels and streams to improve flow, water quality, and biodiveristy.
You can download the presentations of the speakers here:
Also, please contact the TLS if you would like to arrange a talk with your group.