Sally Smith, press and advocacy officer at Kent Wildlife Trust, says the decision to sell land earmarked for the London Resort theme park in Swanscombe has not come as a surprise but efforts to protest the site now need to be ramped up.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Today we have found out the news that Swanscombe Peninsula has been put on the market.
00:05It hasn't come completely out of the blue for Kent Wildlife Trust and the other conservation groups
00:10involved in the Save Swanscombe movement. The plans for the London Resort theme park on the site
00:15have been dead in the water for some time. It has some special planning constraints and plans
00:21on the site known as an NSIP. We've been fighting to have that special planning removed from the
00:27site so it can be protected for nature for future generations to come. I think
00:32more worrying to us as a movement than the sale of the land is that special plan in the NSIP
00:38on the site. While that hovers over it there's complete uncertainty about what could happen
00:44there. It is a site of special scientific interest. It's really important for a lot of
00:50critically endangered species who live there. We need to protect that area. It's really important.
00:59We're living in one of the most nature depleted countries in the world so we should be fighting
01:04tooth and nail to protect this site. We need that level of uncertainty removed.