Resident Takes Legal Stand to Protect Richmond Park's Wildlife
A Kingston resident has launched a desperate campaign to fund legal action against Richmond Council, claiming their new development plan poses a serious threat to Richmond Park's protected stag beetle population. Caroline Shah is urgently raising money to seek professional legal advice on challenging the recently adopted Local Plan, which will guide development in the borough for the next 15 years.
The Battle for Biodiversity
Caroline told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the council's plan fails to properly assess the impact of future development on Richmond Park's status as a Special Area of Conservation. She believes the park will face enormous pressure from increased visitor numbers resulting from development in neighbouring boroughs including Kingston, Wandsworth, Merton and Hounslow.
"It's incredibly busy a lot of the time and there's signs of erosion, trampling, people climbing trees and people cycling through the woods when they shouldn't be," Caroline explained. "If you imagine more and more development coming forward, which is what's happening in all the boroughs around the park... it's going to affect the park."
She emphasised that the issue isn't about preventing access but about protecting the very nature that sustains everyone. "How can you have access to nature when you destroy that nature?" she questioned.
Council Defends Plan as 'Legally Compliant'
Lib Dem councillor Julia Neden-Watts, Chair of the Environment Committee, defended the plan, stating that inspectors had confirmed it was "legally compliant and sound" before the authority formally adopted it on October 7. The council maintains that the Local Plan was developed through a thorough process including extensive public consultation and independent examination.
However, Caroline disputes the council's assessment methodology, particularly their focus on the stag beetle's habitat as primarily dead wood rather than the wider ecosystems that support the species. "Richmond Park is a habitat with many different ecological features and characteristics in it," she said. "It's got grasslands, it's got woodland pastures, it's got scattered ancient trees. Those are the habitats that support the stag beetle, not dead wood."
She also argues the council failed to properly consider the impact on adult stag beetles, which have different needs to younger beetles and are particularly vulnerable to trampling as they spend time above ground.
Race Against Time to Fund Legal Challenge
Caroline has already raised more than £1,500 of her £1,800 target in just 48 hours through a GoFundMe campaign. With the deadline for submitting her claim approaching within days, she's appealing for urgent donations to secure legal representation.
"The timing is the critical thing here," Caroline stressed. "I really need people to donate as much as they can afford as quickly as possible because that will enable me to get an opinion and get any support I need to take a claim forward, which I will do on my own."
Despite acknowledging the personal challenge ahead, Caroline remains determined. "I'm prepared to do this, despite how brutal it will be, because nature can't fight for itself, the environment can't fight for itself," she declared.
She described Richmond Park as "one of the most beautiful and rare habitats in London and England", highlighting its extensive grasslands and woodland areas containing 700-year-old trees that form part of the essential ecosystem supporting the protected stag beetle population.
