In the wake of last week’s decision by ASDA to withdraw its application to build on the Southmere Green area of Erith Marshes - the second time that a supermarket chain has made such a proposal - London Wildlife Trust calls on Bexley Council to formally recognise the importance of this area as part of the East London Green Chain and designate it as public open space.

The Southmere Green area is ancient Thames grazing marsh and as such is priority wildlife habitat. It also plays a key role in buffering the East Thamesmead Business Park development from the adjacent land – a Site of Metropolitan Importance.

Erith Marshes, one of the few remaining areas of grazing marsh in London, is on low-lying land within an area of high flood risk and should be protected as a future area of wildspace within the Gateway. Southmere Green provides vital flood storage potential and strengthens the ecological resilience of the wider landscape to climate change and other pressures