Walk with Jane

  Here are some segments from a  walk around the bounds of Norbiton reproduced from Anatomy of Norbiton with Toby's permission. For the full text and his beautiful pictures see http://anatomyofnorbiton.org/circumambulatory.html   'The logic of Norbiton’s streets has nothing to do with its circumference. Their grain is governed by the line of the railway, the routes into Kingston and Wimbledon. If you try to walk its perimeter you are forcing that grain, committing a minor spatial infraction.  The same can be said of the streets of its interior: they do not lead to other places within Norbiton, but originate and terminate outside it. Their business is not with Norbiton, but across it. When we walk the circumference of Norbiton, then, we do so as engineers of ideal space armed only with the string and sticks, the ambulatory measure, of our minds; we are engaged in the survey of the anfractuous, perhaps not properly existent fringe of an object which ...

    Dear all, BREAKING NEWS: thanks to you, MPs will hold a debate in Parliament on 25th January into Government plans to criminalise trespass! Parliament's Petitions Committee has just scheduled the debate, after our petition - ' Don't criminalise trespass ' - got over 134,000 signatures, back in early September. Massive thanks to all of you who signed and promoted the petition! But now we really need your help to contact MPs and get them to say the right things at the debate. We've written a template email, below, which you can adapt and send to your MP. When MPs hear about issues from their constituents, they're so much more likely to take action - and even if they disagree with you, they have to take your views into consideration. You can look up your MP and their email address on the Parliament website here . Remember to include your postcode when you send your email, to show you're a constituent, otherwise they won't have to respond. If you get ...

In 2001 and 2002 I was asked to perform ecological surveys of Area 5 to support the Highways England’s Biodiversity Action Plan: that is, the M25 and its ‘stubs and tails’ (associated trunk roads or feeder routes).  During 2001 I surveyed 60% of Area 5 including bridges over water for bats (one was filmed for BBC) Inside Out programme). In 2002 I surveyed the remaining 40% The scope of the surveys was to identify bird communities as well as interesting habitats on the network. I also undertook 10 bat surveys of bridges over water, including the rivers Mole, Colne, Darent, Ash, and Wey. The survey focused on Highways Agency (HA) target habitats and species and those considered to be of conservation concern. The HA target habitats were boundary features, grassland, heathland water and woodland. The western side of the M25 – Surrey to Bucks - is a watery landscape, with good quality grassland and from the M3 to the M1 there are some interesting architectural structures The western a...

  Trespass in Battersea ‘London Reclaim’, the name on the tug proclaimed, (pulling yellow containers on barges). In this sentiment, I felt the same; so many pathways curtailed that  I couldn’t even walk down Pumphouse lane.   No passage through, to the development of “Phase 2”, Unless driving a lorry to the waste transfer station. No route to the Thames Path and riverside, Without hard hat and constructive intent. Otherwise ‘No Pasaran, down the Pumphouse lane.   "You can better your photos on the other side where stand 250 shops, some of them open". Outdoor tables covered in an Astroturf fuzz. Why not let me stand in a lane named Pumphouse It would give me such a buzz.   Notices and signs that change the chemicals in my blood Evict the endorphins and scatter the serotonins. Hoardings proclaim venues, culture and art from wood. Yet no history from the Covid-closed Heritage Centre, and no chance of walking down Pum...