Lots of good points Languagelounger.

We do have a debate between competing local interests. Those in favour of giving people the option of burial and those who prefer the land to be used for amenity space of the wildlife sort.

However, I don't think the land use history of the Camberwell Old Cemetery is too relevant. Land in the London area, if left unattended, will first revert to scrub and then broadleaved woodland and these environments do have great biodiversity value.

You only have to see what the Councils have been doing to local parks to see this is the case. Gone is the approach of clearing away all dead wood and always close cutting the grass. Now we see log piles and areas of long grass. Check out Peckham Rye and Burgess Park.

Neglect is often the best way of preserving the environment. Incidentally, in my recent walk around Camberwell Old Cemetery I didn't see any knot weed or rhododendrons. The point is perhaps that once you allow a piece of land to become neglected then after a while you probably need to start managing it to maintain the maximum biodiversity value, just as they do at Devonshire Road Nature Reserve and other urban reserves.

Yes, the LWT can be a bit pushy but I do feel that many local people genuinely wish to preserve these sites for more altruistic reasons. Stag beetles and woodpeckers or plastic flowers and green glass chippings? Its the wildlife for me.