Threat to Broadwater Lake SSSI

A nationally protected wetland and the wildlife that relies on it are under threat. In November 2023, Hillingdon Council submitted a planning application to build a new Watersports Facility and Activity Centre on Broadwater Lake, Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a site protected in law.

This would be catastrophic for the wildlife and set a dangerous precedent for legally protected sites across the UK.

Together with Natural England, the Environment Agency, RSPB, London Wildlife Trust, the Colne Valley Regional Park and 1200 individuals and organisations, we have OBJECTED to Hillingdon Council's planning application.

Read Our Responses to the Planning Application

You can read our response to the planning application here. Objections made by Natural England and the Environment Agency are particularly important as they are statutory consultees - you can read a summary of their main concerns here. 

How You Can Stand Up for Broadwater Lake

The planning application for Broadwater Lake , if recommended for approval, was expected to be considered by the Planning Committee on 14 March 2024. We have learnt that this is no longer the case and there is a delay. Even though the official planning consultation window has now closed, you can still continue to use your voice to stand up for nature at Broadwater Lake SSSI.  

If you live in Hillingdon Borough then you could get in touch with your Council representatives on the Planning Committee to raise awareness of your concerns about the proposals and the catastrophic impact approving this scheme would have on Broadwater Lake SSSI. 

Wherever you live, you can still reach out to your elected representatives (local Councillors or your MP) to share details of this nationally-relevant case and highlight that nature matters to you and will influence how you vote later this year. 

Find out more about the threat to Broadwater Lake below.

Why Broadwater Lake is not the right place for this development

Broadwater Lake is part of the Mid Colne Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).  SSSIs, like Broadwater Lake, are designated to safeguard our most important places for wildlife across the UK and to conserve our natural heritage for present and future generations. 

Broadwater Lake is particularly notable as it’s the largest expanse of open water in the Colne Valley, It provides an absolutely critical refuge for wildlife in this already very busy landscape and supports nationally important populations of wintering birds (Shoveler and Pochard). The site is also incredibly important for other birds during the breeding season, including Grey Heron, Little Egret, Cormorant, Kingfisher and Cetti’s Warbler and plays a vital role in protecting birds like Tufted Ducks when they are at their most vulnerable and can’t fly during their annual moult in the summer months.

Hillingdon Council has agreed to relocate Hillingdon Outdoor Activity Centre (HOAC), which lost its base due to works associated with Phase 1 of High Speed 2.  As a designated SSSI, Broadwater Lake was ruled out as a potential site for the relocation of HOAC in 2015 by a Parliamentary Select Committee, at which time Hillingdon Council, together with HS2 and HOAC, recognised it was not an appropriate location for the proposed relocation due to its ecological importance.  

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.

What is included in the planning application and what impact will it have?

The proposed Hillingdon Watersports Facility and Activity Centre is a new major development featuring buildings and infrastructure on the previously undisturbed wooded peninsular, designed to relocate and enable a whole suite of water and land-based recreational activities to be hosted at Broadwater Lake.  

The existing sailing activities here already cause a level of disturbance and the proposed development will greatly intensify this. Crucially, the development of a facility on the peninsular will shift the starting location for existing sailing and all new water-based activities (kayaking, canoeing, rowing, paddle-boarding, raft-building, windsurfing) from the north of the lake to the south, where no sailing takes place currently.

A variety of land-based activities are also proposed on the peninsular itself, including pedal go-karting, high and low ropes and zip lines. This will bring unprecedented levels of disturbance closer to the critical refuge area in the south of the lake and onto the peninsular itself, subjecting birds and other wildlife to a barrage of noise and movement in some form throughout the year.

The planning application proposes new refuge areas for birds but these are insufficient and it underplays how significant disturbance will be. Wildlife cannot thrive alongside this level of intense recreational activity.

Hillingdon Council's Claims to Protect Nature Don't Add Up

The planning application claims to be ecologically-led but this couldn't be further from the truth:

• Hillingdon Council’s claims of no significant effects on wildlife are not credible. Disturbance to breeding, moulting and wintering birds, from both the construction and use of the centre once its operational cannot be properly mitigated for. It is clear that there will be significant harm to biodiversity and an adverse effect on a legally protected site.
• Using a site which is legally protected for nature conservation as a Watersports Facility and Activity Centre undermines national and local planning policies and sets a damaging precedent.
• Hillingdon Council claims that Broadwater Lake is the only suitable and available site for the relocation but it has missed opportunities to find an alternative site with fewer impacts on wildlife. If the Council's application was really ecologically-led, it's recent Alternative Sites Assessment would have focused on ecological harm rather than purely recreational criteria. The Council’s recent assessment is contrary to the HS2 2015 options report which categorically ruled out Broadwater Lake because of its wildlife importance and it also does not consider whether it would be possible to split activities across two or more smaller sites with fewer ecological sensitivities.

Wildlife cannot speak up for itself. In the midst of a nature crisis - with one in six species threatened with extinction in Great Britain - we have to stand up to protect our most important places for nature.

Broadwater Lake SSSI is not the right place for this development. 

If our legally protected sites are open to development, is anywhere safe?