I write to support the VITAL importance of Strategic Wildlife Corridors in the Strategic Plan.

I am a biologist and film-maker based in Chichester. We have made many films on the importance of wildlife, both globally and locally, including films on National Parks such as the South Downs NPA.
The amount of in-fill, and urbanisation going on in the Chichester area has reached a critical point. At no other time in our local history, have our wildlife and wild places been under such threat.

Natural areas protect homes from flooding, insects pollinate crops, healthy ecosystems purify water, wildlife is a massive asset for tourism and spending time outside in vibrant natural areas supports and protects public health.

The Chichester area's wildlife is massively under threat . It comes at a time when one in 10 of the UK's wildlife species are threatened with extinction and the numbers of the nation's most endangered creatures have plummeted by two-thirds since 1970. The abundance of all wildlife has also fallen, with one in six animals, birds, fish and plants having been lost. [Source - State of Nature Report produced by the UK's leading wildlife authorities.]

Together with historical deforestation and industrialisation, these trends have left the UK among the most nature-depleted countries in the world. I believe the Chichester area has reached the threshold where urgent measures are needed to plan and protect for our wildlife, and to provide living landscapes for the generations to come. The maintenance and provision of wildlife corridors is an absolutely critical part of this future-proofing.

Chichester District is home to a wide variety of wildlife and habitats. To give but one example, I live in Chidham where we have internationally protected species such a water voles and greater crested newts and many species of rare bat. Species like this cannot survive in isolation. They do not recognise boundaries. To maintain healthy and vibrant wildlife, we need robust corridors so species can utilise them to travel between their habitats. We need healthy and protected corridors so genetic diversity can be maintained. And we need these pockets of wildlife to link to the National Park.

I urge the planners to ensure the proposed Wildlife Corridors are given the due protection, and importance they deserve. And to also to be far more aggressive with developers in ensuring our existing wild areas continue to be protected. We need living landscape's around us, not concrete jungles.