The planning application to build on Battery rocks has now been PASSED. This is such a shame, Battery Rock is a great little dive site foe new divers and snorkellers. It is also an important marine habitat, which will be lost forever.

In a response to a formal complaint from the friends of Penzance harbour the Route partnership has admitted that a key part of their January pre-planning ''was in error'' If you log on to www.friendsofpenzanceharbour.org look down the news and click on Route partnership admits photomontage error and you can click on a link to see the photo of the view of the proposal from next to the war memorial. The photo in question clearly shows the new harbour wall roughly in the same place as the existing wall.

The plans issued by the route partnership that have gone forward for planning permission shows the new harbour wall running where the dotted line on our photo ends here on the rocks half way down our photo. Here. as you can see in the picture all the beach will be lost if this proposed work goes ahead.

Battery Rocks which is just across the road from the centre and is a great spot for Discover Scuba and other educational activities that we run is in danger. A plan has been put forward that will extend the harbour from the end of the present harbour across to the end of the jubilee pool. This will cover the beach in concrete to create a lorry park.

Battery Rocks is surrounded by a large kelp bed. Kelp is a really important habitat for the many animals that use it as a home or feed on it, or use it as a nursery area. Many juvenile species depend on areas such as Battery Rocks, with our such habitats Mounts Bay a bay empty of marine life.

Battery Rocks is a very important marine habitat, that is a breeding ground for Cuttlefish and many other species. This habitat should be protected. Anyone wanting more information should contact the centre or can go to www.pznews.co.uk  or www.friendsofpenzanceharbour.org

Roskilly Beach is the second dive site in danger due to the proposal to open Penlee Quarry as a marina. Although there has been a lot of public opposition to this project it now seems the plan is to reopen the quarry as they will need the stone to build the harbour extention in Penzance. So this means blowing up the road to make access to the quarry releasing possible toxic water into the sea without having to undergo the normal impact survey.

This picture was taken at Roskilly Beach and shows Penzance and Battery rocks in the distance. If the proposed work takes place the silt and sediment from the two sites will harm all the marine life in this part of Mounts Bay.

This short cut will destroy eel grass beds, which should be a protected habitat, as they are in other parts of Europe and kelp forests which are home to many species.

More information can be found at www.stopthemarina.co.uk.

and www.friendsofpenzanceharbour.org

This John Dory picture was taken at Roskilly Beach. How can we let such a diverse habitat be destroyed.