Hello
A message from the Friends of Fineshade...
Forestry England (FE) have been drawing up new plans for how they will manage Fineshade's trees over the years to come, and there is a public consultation including an open event from 2 to 7pm on Wednesday afternoon. If you are in the area and able to attend, please try to drop in to the Little Barn, next to the cafe at Top Lodge where key forestry staff will be able to talk about their plans and answer questions. Some of us will be around and about, perhaps in the cafe, during the afternoon, so we may be able to meet up for an informal chat as well.
This page of our website was updated today and gives a few details of the plan and some initial comments from us, https://www.fineshade.org.
It's quite important to realise that this plan only deals with planting, managing and felling trees, in Wakerley and Southwick Woods, as well as in Fineshade. There's nothing there describing, for example, future plans to develop (or not) extra leisure facilities, nothing about the management of car-parks (sore point!), no mention of the disused toilet block in Wakerley Wood. Also there's nothing there mentioning the former threat from Forest Holidays, but every indication we have re-inforces the view that this threat no longer exists. Also remember that the field in front of Top Lodge, where static caravans were proposed, does not belong to Forestry England - they, like us, opposed that strongly.
Since the Forest Holidays threat was withdrawn, relations with local FE staff have been steadily improving and there has been some excellent work going on in the wood (ride management for butterflies, pond restoration, carefully sympathetic thinning of plantations, open areas are to be created for reptiles, encouraging what we're doing with Elms and Wild Service tree, etc). This consultation is an opportunity to praise and encourage all this good work, as well as to make our opinions clear if we disapprove and disagree.
Even if you cannot attend on Wednesday, please do consider responding to FE's online consultation before the closing date of 8th November. Forest Plans like this often receive little attention, but it would be great if there was a large number of submissions to this consultation, showing that lots of people really care about the future of Fineshade Wood (and Wakerley and Southwick too)!
One other piece of news to share with you. We heard last Friday that Augean, the owners of the hazardous and low-level-nuclear waste disposal site to the east of Fineshade Wood, are intending to apply for a 90-acre extension to their site which would bring it right to the boundary of the wood. No doubt this will be getting a lot of our attention in the years ahead.
Hoping to see some of you on Wednesday afternoon
Best wishes
Friends of Fineshade
A message from the Friends of Fineshade...
Forestry England (FE) have been drawing up new plans for how they will manage Fineshade's trees over the years to come, and there is a public consultation including an open event from 2 to 7pm on Wednesday afternoon. If you are in the area and able to attend, please try to drop in to the Little Barn, next to the cafe at Top Lodge where key forestry staff will be able to talk about their plans and answer questions. Some of us will be around and about, perhaps in the cafe, during the afternoon, so we may be able to meet up for an informal chat as well.
This page of our website was updated today and gives a few details of the plan and some initial comments from us, https://www.fineshade.org.
It's quite important to realise that this plan only deals with planting, managing and felling trees, in Wakerley and Southwick Woods, as well as in Fineshade. There's nothing there describing, for example, future plans to develop (or not) extra leisure facilities, nothing about the management of car-parks (sore point!), no mention of the disused toilet block in Wakerley Wood. Also there's nothing there mentioning the former threat from Forest Holidays, but every indication we have re-inforces the view that this threat no longer exists. Also remember that the field in front of Top Lodge, where static caravans were proposed, does not belong to Forestry England - they, like us, opposed that strongly.
Since the Forest Holidays threat was withdrawn, relations with local FE staff have been steadily improving and there has been some excellent work going on in the wood (ride management for butterflies, pond restoration, carefully sympathetic thinning of plantations, open areas are to be created for reptiles, encouraging what we're doing with Elms and Wild Service tree, etc). This consultation is an opportunity to praise and encourage all this good work, as well as to make our opinions clear if we disapprove and disagree.
Even if you cannot attend on Wednesday, please do consider responding to FE's online consultation before the closing date of 8th November. Forest Plans like this often receive little attention, but it would be great if there was a large number of submissions to this consultation, showing that lots of people really care about the future of Fineshade Wood (and Wakerley and Southwick too)!
One other piece of news to share with you. We heard last Friday that Augean, the owners of the hazardous and low-level-nuclear waste disposal site to the east of Fineshade Wood, are intending to apply for a 90-acre extension to their site which would bring it right to the boundary of the wood. No doubt this will be getting a lot of our attention in the years ahead.
Hoping to see some of you on Wednesday afternoon
Best wishes
Friends of Fineshade
No comments:
Post a Comment