Before spring brings a new growing season, Lesnes Abbey Conservation Volunteers are looking for help on February 6 to clear invasive plants such as brambles from the glades in Lesnes Abbey Wood. Volunteers should meet next to the information centre by the abbey ruins off Abbey Road, Abbey Wood, at noon and wear suitable clothing. Call 0208 313748.

Joanne Bradley is the new Thames21s River Shuttle and Wyncham Stream river keeper. She is based at the Thames21 Riverkeepers’ yard on the River Cray in Crayford. To contact her email joanne.bradley@thames21.org.uk THE RSPB has restated its opposition to plans by London Mayor to create a new airport in the Thames estuary. Its south east England director Chris Corrigan said: “The Thames estuary is not dead space waiting for development, it is home to an immense number of birds and other wildlife. You can not recreate the estuary nor move the native or migratory wildlife that relies on it for food and shelter.”

The London Assembly’s environment committee has been warned trees planted across the captial, including in Bexley, as part of Mayor Boris Johnson’s street tree scheme may not survive because budget cuts will force London councils to axe the ongoing maintenance costs of keeping them alive. The scheme is on target to deliver 9,500 new trees by this spring.

Consultation on plans to build a £3.6 billion super sewer to prevent sewage from pouring into the Thames during heavy downpours has come to an end, with many residents across London opposed to Thames Water’s plans. The company hopes to lodge a planning application later this year to build the 20-mile tunnel which will carry the sewage to the Beckton sewage works in east London.