Much
has been made recently in the national press of the tremendous rise
in real-estate prices and of course, its effect on Cornwall. But,
what is generally overlooked with this economic change is its effect
on the landscape as changes in use of the Cornish landscape occur.
Farmers may cease to use fields, either by economic circumstances or
to be sold for development, planning departments may begin a
dangerous precedent by gently opening an area to new construction,
and Mother Nature herself may even inflict change.
In
the current controversy regarding the conversion of the Great
Crugmeer farm buildings, which lie deep within an Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty (the Bedruthan-Padstow
AONB - for a
detailed map, which requires Adobe Reader, click here - AONB), this question is not only of its effect on
Crugmeer, but the landscape around it. The North Cornwall District
Council approved
the opening of a local farm shop along the narrow, single track lane
that leads from the B3276 to Steppers Point and Hawkers Cove. While
the diversification of farms is a key issue, and the development of
new income streams is important, did NCDC properly consider the prime
directive of planning policy ENV1 in reference to AONB, which states
that any development should be of "national importance"?
And by doing so, have they laid the groundwork now for the continued
development of what can only be called a "strip"
development of the Crugmeer lane within the AONB? The Crugmeer
Society has resorted to very high tech ways of showing not only the
local and regional government, but the world, exactly what it means
when landscapes change, and when growth may be having more effect on
the landscape than the average taxpayer knows.
Below
are landscape "change detection" satellite images,
generated from image data provided by NASA, the U.S. Geological
Society, the Global Land Change Facility at the University of
Maryland/Goddard Space Flight Centre and Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The analyses were performed by the FSC of Scotland and identical to
those specified by the UN and Kyoto Treaty protocols. Unlike "Google
Earth"®, which is merely satellite data that provides a
"pretty postcard" view of the Earth, the analyses show how
much the landscape around Crugmeer have changed between 1989 and
2003. The first analysis is focused on vegetation, shrubs and
grasses, the second on change in the waters, and the third on changes
in vegetation and soil. Any area in RED is a changed portion of
either the vegetation, water or soil of the Crugmeer area, whether by
human or natural means (but most likely human). The data is from Path
204, Row 025 of the 2003 LANDSAT 7 ETM+ satellite, and the 1989
LANDSAT Thematic Mapper satellite. The LANDSAT program is the world's
oldest and only continous environmental satellite programme, having
been begun in 1972. It is the accepted baseline system for every
world body performing environmental monitoring. For further
information on how these images were produced, please visit The
American Museum of Natural History Geographic Information System and
Remote Sensing Facility.
Finally,
just to bring home to all those interested in keeping Cornwall
beautiful, clicking on any of the images below will deliver a
satellite analysis image of the same type as the Crugmeer image for
ALL of Cornwall. Its a beautiful world out there - lets try and keep
as much of it that way as we can (oh, and here's where Crugmeer "is" at
multimap.com.)
ITS HERE!!!
5 FEB 2007 - HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGERY OF CRUGMEER! CLICK ON
LOW RESOLUTION IMAGE BELOW TO SEE CRUGMEER !!!
A rea of Outstanding Natural Beauty █ ENV1
Cornwall Nature Conservation area █ ENV5
South West Coastal Path (national) ●● SAF 7
Area of Great Scientific Value --------- ENV5
Site of Special Scientific Interest … ENV6
Area of Great Historical Interest █ ENV 14 ENV 15
Regionally important geological/geomorphological site RIGS ENV 5