Let me introduce myself. I’m a town planner, working to protect nature from damaging development. I’ve worked all over the UK and I’ve seen many protected sites threatened by development, of many different shapes and sizes. Each has its unique characteristics, but if there’s one thing that unites them all, it’s that there’s always an alternative which is less damaging to nature.

The proposed Hillingdon Watersports Facility and Activity Centre (HWFAC) at Broadwater Lake is no different. My colleagues Chloe Edwards and Tim Hill have shown in their recent blogs how Broadwater Lake acts as a vital wildlife refuge in the Colne Valley and how devastating the impact on wildlife would be. The planning statement submitted with the application says that there is no alternative to locating the Centre at Broadwater Lake, but is this really true?

Firstly, imagine an alternative future for the lake.

Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust’s vision for Broadwater Lake is to maintain it as a peaceful refuge for wildlife, giving people an opportunity to experience, enjoy and learn about nature in a beautiful setting. A place where people from diverse communities can reconnect with the nature that’s so often missing from our lives.

The lake is already suffering some low-level disturbance from the existing Broadwater Sailing Club in the northern part of the lake, and the construction of the High Speed 2 (HS2) viaduct on the western side. The proposed use would greatly intensify disturbance, but imagine a future in which the disturbance caused by HS2 is properly mitigated for, leaving the lake as a true refuge for wildlife to be enjoyed by the public. In a time of ecological crisis, this is the alternative future that wildlife needs.

Then, imagine an alternative future for the activity centre.

The current planning application doesn’t address our alternative vision for the lake. That’s something Hillingdon Council, the landowners and other interested parties such as the Trust would need to pursue. But finding a better location for HWFAC is very relevant to the planning application.

The story started with HS2 and the need to relocate the Hillingdon Outdoor Activity Centre (HOAC), which lost its base due to works associated with Phase 1 of HS2.  Alternatives were debated in Parliament but, as a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, Broadwater Lake was ruled out as a potential site for the relocation of HOAC in 2015 by the Parliamentary Select Committee considering the HS2 Bill. At that time Hillingdon Council, together with HS2 and HOAC, recognised it was not an appropriate location for the proposed relocation due to its ecological importance. 

As we’ve said elsewhere, we sympathise with HOAC's position and are not at odds with their members or the many people who enjoy outdoor activities on and off the water. However, it remains the case that this is not the right place for such a development and Hillingdon Council need to find a more suitable location for it.

It’s been eight years since the debate in Parliament. There have been genuine alternatives on the table. Planning permission was even granted for an alternative site at Denham Quarry in 2016, but this didn’t go ahead.

Now, Hillingdon Council has commissioned an ‘Alternative Site Assessment’ alongside the current planning application. It considers a long list of 28 sites, but rejects them all as unsuitable except Broadwater Lake. The assessment is seriously flawed, however. Firstly, it assumes that all the existing HOAC activities need to be provided together on the same site. Although it’s easy to understand why this might be preferable for the operator, adopting a more flexible approach which could see activities spread across two or more sites could make it easier to find alternative locations with less ecological damage.

The assessment acknowledges ecological sensitivities, but its selection is based purely on recreational criteria: issues like the surface area of the lake, accessibility and access to wider amenities. If the planning application process was truly ecology-led, as it claims to be, ecological sensitivities should have been a key criterion. Broadwater Lake should have been ruled out at the earliest planning stage, as a Site of Special Scientific Interest is never a suitable site for development. This is a fundamental flaw.

Harming a protected site would set a terrible precedent for other Sites of Special Scientific Interest around the country, is contrary to national policy, the London Plan and Hillingdon’s Local Plan. When there’s an ecological crisis, Hillingdon Council needs to do much more to find an alternative to this proposal.

Find out more about the threat to Broadwater Lake and how you can object to the planning application here