25-Nov-2024

Whielden Lane Bridge

 

The Amersham Vent Shaft site will have woodland screening around the edges, once completed, but is completely surrounded by roads, which makes it inaccessable to wildlife. However, improvements to the Whielden Lane bridge might provide better connectivity -

The underside of the bridge is currently a 25m expanse of concrete, but there is a narrow level walkway at the top. Might this be screened to provide a more wildlife friendly connection between the wooded areas on either side of the bridge ?

The site restoration proposal (3.3.11) says

Targeting specific faunal species on the traffic island site is not an overriding objective of the restoration scheme. However, there will be species that will make good use of habitat features that have been incorporated into the design and ultimately, in the location on west of the field to the east of Whielden Lane, there is merit in providing habitat features to encourage wider biodiversity

... so there may also be some merit in improving the connectivity.

As the bridge lies outside the HS2 act limits, it is presumably 'owned' by Bucks highways. However, the HS2 Community and Environment Fund might be persuaded to support it ?