Bring it on!

Update

Thursday 5th November 2009:

After spending 4 days in the re-opened inquiry the team are getting a little frazzled! This week has had highs and lows with us disagreeing with many of points raised by Q Hotel’s ecologist and then finding out that there is still not time to wrap up the evidence in this extended session.

Today we went on a site visit to Broughton Woods where all parties were able to make points about their evidence and it was a really interesting day – lets hope the Inspector found it valuable too. Now Q Hotels have only their planning policy witness left who will cross-examined tomorrow – fingers crossed our barrister and the Council barrister break his defence. After that there will be a final day of the inquiry so that all parties involved gan give their closing statements.

Then there will just be the nerve-racking wait until a decision is given…..

End

Although it only seems two minutes since the Forest Pines Inquiry drew to a close in September, it appears to be starting again next week.

An immense amount has happened since the closure of the inquiry. A couple of weeks ago Q Hotels decided it was a good time to challenge the antiquity of the woodland! Early on in the case this was an issue as the woodland in question was not included on the ancient woodland inventory however, after further investigation by Natural England it was decided that the wood was ancient. Q Hotels were happy with this until a couple of weeks ago when they decided to submitted further evidence into the inquiry claiming that woodland is not ancient after all.

However we are not worried – there is good evidence to back up the antiquity of the wood. Keith Kirby, who is Natural England’s ancient woodland specialist, thinks it is ancient too. Surely this is enough expert opinion to base a decision on! The other thing we have been busy on is fundraising. Originally the Inquiry was only scheduled to last for four days, it soon became apparent that this was not long enough and the Inspector decided that we would reconvene for another five days. This makes the Inquiry twice as long as originally planned – and worryingly nearly twice as expensive!

Broughton Woods under threat from a golf course. Photo Woodland Trust

We have been overwhelmed with the generous support that people have offered us both financially and through objecting to the application making the work we do possible. However the fight is not over yet and if you feel that you can offer further support please visit our appeal page.

As you read this it is most likely that the team are doing some last minute preparations for the inquiry, particularly as Q Hotels are making such a material change to their case. As we had already given our evidence in the first half of the inquiry we were not expecting to have to go back into the witness stand but with such a dramatic change of evidence it looks like we might have be back defending our precious ancient woodland once more.

Bring it on!

Climate change – People have a powerful voice – we need to use it to protect ancient woodland

The recent announcement about Kingsnorth has been welcomed by environmentalists, green activists and sensible people everywhere.  There is no doubt that without the questions, debate and delays brought about by the huge opposition to this proposed new coal fired power station, it would be well on its way to being built by now. It shows what a difference the public voice really can make when it is raised in unison.

Similarly, in the East Midlands today another unwelcome development was halted, as Sherwood Forest was saved - for now – from having a new incinerator as its neighbour.  The community campaign against these plans has been long and hard-fought, and now what seems to be a flawed environmental assessment of the site by the applicant means more delays while the threat it poses to protected bird species are looked into.  Reprieve for the  ancient woodlands of  Sherwood Forest, which (if you will pardon the pun) can breathe more easily tonight…

So, while people power has shown that in many cases it can make a real difference to the fate of our natural environment, that voice still needs to be raised.

The Woodland Trust is alerted to new cases of threats to our natural world every single day.  Mineral extraction in particular is an issue that is still affecting the unique habitat of ancient woodland, right across the UK. Extraction plans for materials including oil, limestone and coal are keeping us very busy, to the detriment of ancient woodland. 

We recently lost Markswell Wood to oil exploration, and we are awaiting a decision about whether Sussex will be devastated by another hydrocarbon exploration site (that’s an oil drill to the uninitiated), planned in Bury Hill Woods which many of you will have objected to.

But despite E-on putting the stops to Kingsnorth for now, it’s coal that is occupying so much of our time at the moment.  As well as the obvious climate change issue, fragmentation is a serious problem, but where coal is concerned dust can be a particular concern.  Trees are used as a method of catching dust and are often used as screens to protect housing near mineral extraction sites.  Dust is widely recognised as an issue and species (such as lichens) found in ancient woodland are highly susceptible to dust.

In Telford a new open cast coal mine has just been approved, which will bring negative impacts on the neighbouring ancient woodland.  We are in the midst of our campaign to save Margam Woods from a similar fate.  And in Wales the woods at Pont-Henri are at risk for being lost forever, and we will have more on what you can do to help us here shortly.  

One case where your support can really help is a current case featuring our own woods, Cwm George and Case Hill Woods – again in Wales - which are threatened by plans at Wenvoe Quarry.   Happily (let’s be positive), this gives you another chance to speak up for woodlands as you can still object and help us protect them. 

Thank you for all your efforts in fighting for ancient woodland with us so far – we just need you to keep it up! A key opportunity to do this is Blog Action Day, the uniting of bloggers a single issue on a single day and this year ahead of Copenhagen Climate Change is the subject of choice. Our Woods under Threat cases show that climate change is not being taken seriously enough and that ancient woodland is still being destroyed – we need you to add your voice to the debate.

Trust responds to misleading BBC article

The truth behind Roehoe Wood being ‘moved’ to accommodate the A46 widening.

There are a number of issues in the recent article that appeared on the BBC news website which we wish to address.

Entitled ‘Woodland Moved Out Of Road’s Path’, the article referred to an area of ancient woodland in Nottinghamshire “being dug up and moved 200 metres to make way for a new dual carriageway” as part of Highways Agency plans to widen the A46.

This process described, commonly known as  ‘Habitat Translocation’, has long been regarded by the Woodland Trust as a wholly inappropriate process to carry out on ancient woodland and one lacking in scientific research and consensus.

We also understand from the Highways Agency that all the trees will be coppiced prior to their removal, and moved along with the topsoil. The coppicing process will remove the protection of the tree canopy from any woodland plants that are transferred along with the topsoil, which are often specialised to low light levels. The soil structure will be destroyed in the transferral process and will be vulnerable to erosion before the trees are regrown. It is also important to point out that the age of the trees is immaterial – ancient woodland is characterised by the continuity and stability of habitat; trees are just one component of this and can be of any age.

As such we feel that the article featuring the Highways Agency and the translocation of Roehoe Wood is misleading and factually incorrect.  The Trust has asked that our response to this action could also be covered in the media in order to clear up any misunderstanding about translocation that may arise from the initial article. 

The Woodland Trust statement:
A key aim of the Woodland Trust is to ensure no further loss of ancient woodland and we are opposed in principle to development which results in the degradation or destruction of this precious and unique habitat.

We do not believe that the loss of ancient woodland can be mitigated. We were therefore appalled to hear that ancient woodland has been ‘moved’ to accommodate the widening of the A46 (Widmerpool in Leicestershire), as detailed in the aforementioned article and covered on local BBC evening news.

Ancient woodland is about more than just the trees and animals that you can see. What makes ancient woodland so special are the numerous interactions between the trees and the microscopic fungi that live in the soil or the minute insects that inhabit the crevices in the bark – few (if any) of these will survive the complete removal of all the trees and the massive upheaval involved in the digging up and dumping of soil from one spot to another.

Ancient woodland is so special, so culturally and ecologically valuable because of its continuity as a habitat and its undisturbed nature. It is not possible to re-create ancient woodland, it is irreplaceable. 

It is impossible and unrealistic to hope that, by digging up and relocating these previously undisturbed soils, the valuable assets of ancient woodland will be preserved. Whilst certain habitats and species are suited to translocation and enjoy some success, ancient woodland is particularly unsuited to translocation due to its longevity.

Scientific research is does not support the success of ‘habitat translocation’.  The best that we can hope for in this case is the re-establishment of a relatively natural woodland – but this in itself will take 100’s of years to achieve due to the long life cycle of a woodland, and cannot equal the value of the ancient woodland lost.

Please read our formal position on ancient woodland and translocation (pdf) to find out more.

All-new discussion space gets our Facebook fans talking!

Exploring what social networking sites have to offer has been an interesting way for us to reach new and different audiences with our campaign messages. At this stage, our new media of choice is Facebook. And as our pages speed towards almost 1,000 ‘friends’ between them, we are seeing more interaction from people who care about woods and trees, or are worried about the woods in their neighbourhoods.

Our WoodWatch Facebook page can be an especially useful tool for spreading the word quickly about your campaign or for asking other people what they know about an issue you have heard about. It can be great for targeting specific geographical areas of the UK with messages about local woods at risk and sharing photos and videos of your activities.

There are 3 different ways you can talk to the Campaigns team on Facebook:

1. Become a fan of our Campaigns page – for updates and actions you can take to support the Trust’s campaigning work to protect the UK’s woods and trees;
2. Join us as a fan on our WoodWatch page – to meet other WoodWatchers, share experiences and promote your local campaigns;
3. Make friends with Oak Tree – the world’s first ‘twittering’ tree, now newly on Facebook and looking for some pals!

Our new WoodWatch discussion boards have brought up topics such as trees alongside railways, funghi decline and local woods under threat issues… What do you want to talk about?

Join us!
Are you on facebook already? Search for these usernames below and choose ‘become a fan’ to add us to your friends and group pages.

If you, like Oak Tree, are new to Facebook simply visit this link below and create a short profile:

http://www.facebook.com/

Then go get some friends! Search for the usernames below (or click the text to go straight to each page)     

woodlandtrustcampaigns    

woodwatch

twitteringtree

 

Woodland Trust to fight largest ever UK loss of woodland

We need you to help save irreplaceable ancient woodland in Scotland.

Development plans to build a vast housing and leisure complex threaten to flatten 160 hectares (400 acres) of historic Caledonian forest north west of Perth. A further 240 hectares (600 acres) of associated woodland is also threatened from the plan submitted on a part of the vast Dall Estate, which boasts unique eco systems and rare wildlife formed over hundreds and probably thousands of years.

 The Woodland Trust Scotland has now added its objections to a growing list of dissenters listed with Perth and Kinross Council.

Woodland under threat from a new golf course on the shores of Loch Rannoch

 The South Rannoch woodland lies next to the Black Wood of Rannoch – the most southerly remnant of Caledonian forest in Scotland. Formed at the end of the last Ice Age it is considered to be one of the last remaining wildernesses in the British Isles.

The potential loss of woodland – the size of Regent’s Park and bigger than Hyde Park in London ( over 2 and half times the size of Glasgow’s Pollok Park) – is the biggest amount of threatened ancient woodland the Woodland Trust has ever encountered and has been described by the Woodland Trust as ‘totally ludicrous’.

South Rannoch woodlands are home to a wide variety of wildlife, much of which is not found elsewhere in the British Isles. The ‘Red List’-protected capercaillie, the population of which has declined so rapidly that it is at very real risk of extinction, is found in the woodland, together with the equally rare black grouse  - one of the most rapidly declining bird species in the UK.

Other important dependent species include bats, red squirrels, wood ants and golden eagles.

 “The Woodland Trust Scotland has submitted its objection to the plans. The proposals will effectively pour concrete over this habitat, destroying the valuable wildlife within and isolating the Black Wood of Rannoch even further”, says Andrew Fairbairn, Policy and Communications Manager Woodland Trust Scotland.

 “It is disappointing that, in this day and age, with so much more awareness of the importance of protecting the natural environment that a developer can propose something so damaging and ludicrous that would result in thousands of years of evolution being lost forever.

 “Ancient Woodland is an irreplaceable habitat and there has been no attempt to minimise the damage to it, it will just be razed to the ground if this goes ahead.”

 He continues “We call on Perth and Kinross council to throw out this planning application, due to the totally unacceptable level of environmental vandalism it will cause, and to allow this fragment of the once great forest to remain.”

 Areas of Caledonian Forest covered Scotland but now only small fragments remain. Ancient woodland is the richest habitat for species in the UK, the UK’s equivalent of the rainforest.

Help save this area of historic Caledonian forest from destruction by registering your objection with Perth and Kinross Council. Object online by visiting Perth and Kinross Council planning website then and object by clicking on the ‘leave a comment’ tab (application reference 09/01273/IPM).

Comments will be accepted until 31st August.

It’s a bit like LA Law this week

This week the Woods under Threat team have been battling it out against Q Hotels and their application to build a golf course within ancient woodland near Scunthorpe. The application was originally refused by North Lincolnshire Council back in 2008 but since then Q Hotels appealed against the decision and the application is now being decided through a public inquiry. Find out more about this here.

We are objecting to the hotel expanding their existing golf course and hotel in 81 hectares (201 acres) of ancient woodland. This will result in the direct loss of 33 hectares and then cause irreversible damage to the remaining 44 hectares (109 acres). You can immediately see this is not a small amount of ancient woodland – shockingly it is around 25% of North Lincolnshire’s ancient woodland cover.

As our regular readers will know this is a serious matter as ancient woodland is irreplaceable and as far as we are concerned the need for a golf course does not in any way out weigh the need to protect ancient woodland from development.

It is this belief and the Trust’s aim of no further loss of ancient woodland that has led two of my colleagues to unfalteringly defend the fate of ancient woodland in the witness stand – it was a bit like being in an episode of LA Law. Once we have finished giving our evidence it is over to our colleagues from Friends of the Earth, CPRE and Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust to help explain how important ancient woodland is and how it is not possible to combine it with a golf course.

 The difference between a golf course and ancient woodland is actually quite interesting – although you may be forgiven for not yet realising this! As golf courses generally have lots of nice trees, bits of woodland and green grass it makes you think that it is actually quite a nice place wildlife to live in. Some species may thrive here – the more generalist species that are able to cope with changes in their local environment. However for those more specialist species, such as those found in ancient woodland it is a different story. These types of species are adapted to thrive in conditions in a woodland and when you start to change these – even a little bit they are often not able to change quickly enough to survive and will be out competed by a more aggressive and opportunist species. When you combine this with lots of chemicals applied to keep the course in top playing condition things start to look a little different. Independent research comissioned by the Trust shows startling impacts.

I would like to take this opportunity to say that we are not against golf courses per se – I can assure you that there are a good few Trust staff and members that are avid golfers! We are just aware that when you have something like ancient woodland which is irreplaceable it should be looked after – with only around 2% of the UKs land area being ancient woodland there is plenty of scope for avoiding it.

The public inquiry is set to go on for the rest of the week which will not give enough time to hear Q Hotel’s evidence and as a result the inquiry will re-open in November. We will keep you posted.

If you would like to be kept up to date with our progress at Forest Pines inquiry please sign up to our campaigns newsletter, befriend us on Facebook and tweet with us on Twitter!

Ancient woodland is on tour!

In the last decade 100 square miles (26,000 hectares) of ancient woodland in the UK has come under threat from destruction or degradation, equivalent to an area the size of Birmingham.  At over 400 years old ancient woodland is our equivalent to the rainforest, so you’d think it was considered to be as precious: yet every week our team learns of yet another threat.  The ‘Ancient Woodland Farewell Tour’ aims to highlight the serious loss of ancient woodland that we are still experiencing across the UK. 

Forced from their home by plans for a second runway at Stansted, the ‘trees’ of ancient Philipland Wood have taken to the streets in despair.  They have been travelling around the country to find a safe wood to live in… only to find woods are under threat everywhere they go!  

Have you seen this tree?

Our trees realise they urgently need help to protect today’s woods from a similar dreadful fate.  They will be talking to all the new friends they meet on their travels and asking them to be ‘WoodWatchers’ – WoodWatchers are people who keep an eye out for their local woods and trees and are ready to take action to protect them when they are threatened: think neighbourhood watch… only for woods and trees.  In fact, think neighbourWood Watch!

As the UK’s most valuable space for wildlife, ancient woodland is home to more rare and threatened species than any other UK habitat and is truly irreplaceable… If you love trees as much as we do then then you can be a WoodWatcher too – sign up on Facebook and find out more our website.

Pulling the wool over our eyes – Not this time!

At times it can feel a bit like we are not getting the full story when campaigning to protect ancient woodland. This might be from the Local Planning Authority, the developer or the relevant Government Agency – each have been known to push ahead development proposals.

Is this deliberate? The holding of ‘consultation’ periods over Christmas or other public holidays, not fully consulting on changes to plans or even refusing to publicise pertinent environmental impact studies does not give you the greatest faith in the planning process. One can’t help feeling that vital information is being withheld as it would paint too clear a picture of the actual environmental impacts of a development.

Gathering geological data along the road footprint (May 2009) - before planning permission has been granted!". Photo: WTPL

Well, it seems that other people also feel this too – so much so that the local group we are working with to save ancient woodland from the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR - where over fifteen ancient and long-established woodlands are threatened) has challenged the Scottish Government under a little-known piece of European legislation, the Aarhus Convention.

The UNECE ‘Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters’, usually known as the Aarhus Convention, was signed in 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus and came into force in 2001.  It was designed to focus on the relationship between people and governments linking environmental rights and human rights, rather than on technical habitat designations.

This is a new kind of environmental agreement which:

• acknowledges that we have an obligation to future generations;
• establishes that sustainable development can be achieved only through the involvement of all stakeholders;
• links government accountability and environmental protection; and
• focuses on interactions between the public and public authorities in a democratic context, and it is forging a new process for public participation in the negotiation and implementation of international agreements.

Road Sense is certainly serious in undertaking this line of action. This challenge makes it clear that the campaign group feels they have not been given adequate access to the environmental information that formed part of the proposals, and that there has not been the opportunity for full public participation in environmental decision-making for the road scheme. Road Sense is trying to address their lack of confidence in the Scottish Government’s planning of the AWPR. They have chosen to use a democratic process that has been put in place for this very reason.

As campaigners, it is motivating to see a new line of challenge being utilised for major infrastructure developments that impact heavily on the environment. It will be interesting to see what the result of this challenge will be, as the outcome may well influence activities that are carried out in future. One welcome improvement would be an improvement in public consultation across the board.  

We wish Road Sense the very best of outcomes for their challenge and will let you know as soon as we hear of the outcome.  Find out more about the Trust’s campaign against the AWPR here.

Has the Government finally seen sense?

Today we received the unexpected (and quite exciting) news that planning permission for the Westbury Bypass has been turned down by the Secretary of State. As well as being an unexpected result this is also quite an unusual one too – the success rate of defeating a road at public inquiry is frustratingly low.

There have been reports that Government budgets for local road schemes have been cut by 35% and that priority is now being given to more economical solutions such as using hard shoulders instead of additional lanes. With any luck this decrease in funds will initiate a closer look at alternative solutions to road building – ones that really are ‘sustainable’.

However, the White Horse Alliance has been tirelessly campaigning against the Westbury Bypass scheme for a number of years now and without doubt was instrumental in the refusal of this road scheme. The scheme was due to pass right under the White Horse of Salisbury Plain and would have had large scale adverse landscape and environmental impacts – despite not actually addressing the traffic problems of the area!

It is reassuring that the Government are looking for more financially viable schemes, particularly as improvements to public transport are often at a fraction of the cost, both economically and environmentally, of traditional road schemes. This result should give confidence to others campaigning out there and potentially highlight to Local Planning Authorities that they can’t just push through pointless and environmentally damaging road schemes (Weymouth Relief road!) as  they previously have done.

Summer holidays ahoy!

As the holiday season approaches we all have holidays on our mind – dreaming of lying on shimmering sandy beaches in the hot sun or as more and more people are choosing to, retreating to a relaxing woodland cabin.

 Our regular readers may remember that a couple of weeks ago we blogged about our concerns over a planning application for 130 holiday lodges within woodland near Winchester. Our concerns were clearly shared locally too and yesterday we found out that Winchester City Council has refused planning permission. Originally the Woodland Trust had reservations over the impact of these lodges on the ancient woodland. The continual presence of people within the woodland has a significantly higher impact than the same number of day visitors, disturbing wildlife at crucial times.

 To understand the application further we felt it necessary to discuss our concerns with the Forestry Commission and met them on site a couple of weeks ago. During the meeting they demonstrated to us the level of detail that had gone into the application and the care to site the cabins in the least sensitive area of the woodland – dare I say it – we were even impressed with the intentions to connect people with woodland.

Here the Forestry Commission and the Woodland Trust are not at odds – a key aim of the Woodland Trust is increasing people’s understanding and enjoyment of woodland. Unfortunately the meeting did not allay our concerns that the development was of too higher density to be sustainable within the woodland and would eventually be detrimental to the woodland and its wildlife. So as it stands we are not totally against the development for the social benefits that it could achieve – we are waiting to see if a reduced application is developed which may well enhance the woodland rather than making it less hospitable to wildlife.