📌 For the full version, with added photographic evidence, see the Blog Post HERE!
April 30, 2025:
This letter is intended for DEFRA, the Environment Agency, Members of Parliament, and others concerned with lawful land use, environmental protections, and public transparency...
Dear DEFRA, Environment Agency, Drainage Board, MPs, Councillors, and all others concerned with public accountability,
This open letter is written to draw attention to what residents believe to be serious regulatory failures, environmental oversight gaps, and ongoing public harm resulting from Severn Trent Water’s works at Crowle, behind Windsor Crescent, North Lincolnshire (DN17).
⚠️ Summary of Concerns:
- Works commenced before land ownership or covenant was secured
- No statutory notice served to local landowners or residents
- No planning permission sought or published by North Lincolnshire Council
- No published exemptions or permits from the Environment Agency
- Historic drainage channel (Riparian Drain) unaccounted for or disturbed
- Destruction of fallow land previously receiving DEFRA environmental subsidies
- Wildlife (deer, foxes, pheasants) displaced by industrial-scale disruption
- Residents silenced via formal ‘cease contact’ letters after raising concerns
📷 Photographic Evidence:
This section contains archived photographic evidence showing:
- Deer on the site after Severn Trent’s SOCOTEC installations (Oct 2022)
- Pre-works land conditions with natural habitat visible
- Features of the “mystery riparian drain” — documented on multiple public records
These images are time-stamped, geo-located, and can be provided in high resolution upon request. They form part of a broader catalogue of evidence available for scrutiny.
📌 For the full version, with added photographic evidence, see the Blog Post HERE!
…
- 27 May 2022: Evidence of the riparian drain and steep sloping bank.
- 31 August 2022: Sighting of deer on the field.
- 19 October 2022: Sighting of deer on field with SOCOTEC installation present:(Note: the CCTV ‘Dalek’, where the arrow is pointing)
- 17 November 2022 - Sighting of THREE deer on the field:
The field in question is also traversed by a historic riparian drain — acknowledged in official maps from Ordnance Survey, the Isle of Axholme Drainage Board, and North Lincolnshire Council. Its existence was even confirmed to me directly by the drainage board themselves. Yet there is no sign it was properly assessed, protected, or acknowledged in any planning or technical documentation.
📝 DEFRA’s Own Records:
According to a response received by a resident from DEFRA via EIR request, this land was claimed under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) from 2007 to 2022 as fallow — placing it under Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) protections.
So, the question is: What changed?
What allowed this site to become an unregulated industrial construction zone without planning oversight, ecological surveys, or public engagement?
📌 Update – Ground Stability Evidence:
A case study published by Hewson Consulting Engineers, who were involved in platform engineering at the site, describes the ground conditions in Crowle as having an un-drained shear strength of less than 20kPa. This is considered extremely poor and confirms that specialist stabilisation was required.
👉 View the case study here:
This further supports concerns that the site was never suitable for heavy infrastructure without major intervention — and that residents should have been properly consulted and informed.
💬 Public Accountability:
The full story, including correspondence with Severn Trent and the conduct of North Lincolnshire Council, is documented here:
This is not a matter of personal grievance — it is a matter of public interest.
If our statutory bodies cannot enforce the rules, or worse, are helping powerful actors evade them, then what confidence can any of us have in regulatory protections — for land, for water, or for wildlife?
It is not acceptable for legitimate public scrutiny to be brushed aside. We ask DEFRA, the EA, and relevant oversight bodies to investigate — and we invite public officials, environmental advocates, and local representatives to engage openly with this growing body of evidence.
Yours sincerely,
The residents of Crowle, and The Isle Of Axholme, North Lincolnshire
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👉 If you feel strongly about the issues raised in this article, then consider sending an e-mail to Crowle Town Council (clerk@crowleandealandcouncil.org) or North Lincolnshire Council (customerservice@northlincs.gov.uk) or even Councillor Julie Reed, (Cllr.juliereed@northlincs.gov.uk), and ask them why are residents being silenced?