UK: Ancient Treesit protection enters 7th day
A tree-top protest to stop clearance work for a £84m relief road has
entered its seventh day. A man known as Noddy had been up the ancient
tree in Two Mile Coppice, near Weymouth, since last Thursday but came
down on Monday night. Another man, calling himself Whinter, joined the
protest on Monday and has remained and been joined another man. The
Weymouth relief road aims to ease traffic around Weymouth and
Portland, which are hosting the Olympic sailing. Dorset County Council
said it was in the process of taking legal action against the
campaigners.
Work to clear 1.5 acres of Two Mile Coppice – which
contains 400-year-old trees – restarted on Thursday after a legal bid
by the Woodland Trust temporarily suspended work for two days. The
council said about 60% of felling had been carried out and it hoped to
complete the work by Christmas. Whinter said he had taken part twice
in county council consultations about the road. He said: “They’ve not
listened to a word of the public consultations. “They have not
listened to a word of the expert environmental reports or even the
reports of the need for a road.” The Woodland Trust has said the road
is a “near act of vandalism” on the environment, and that ancient
woodland is Britain’s equivalent of the rainforest and cannot be
replaced. A county council spokeswoman said attempts were made by
other protesters on Friday and Saturday to enter the western edge
strip of the coppice but none was successful. Trees and other
vegetation were being removed from the western edge of Two Mile
Coppice, when a legal challenge by the Woodland Trust halted work last
Tuesday. The Woodland Trust, which owns the land, said the county
council had failed to provide a Notice to Enter document when it began
work a day earlier. The coppice is among land in an Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) that Dorset County Council was given
permission to buy, using compulsory purchase orders, in September. But
until the orders are processed, the land still belongs to the trust.
The correct documentation was later provided and work was allowed to
restart. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/7787487.stm
Posted via email from Deane’s posterous
Dear Mr Knight, We are writing to you regarding the outrageous destruction of the Two Mile Coppice in Dorset where many ancient trees reside. How on earth can you and the government back such a plan when we need all the trees we can to help combat climate change and reduce CO2 emissions. We are a non funded environmental group educating people on the importance of old growth forests and protection of trees to help combat climate change. A 90 page environmental report was sent to the labour government, the IPCC and the UN to which they have admitted that this report be 50% correct in it predictions regarding the catastrophes that face humanity should they continue to fell trees in the equatorial region and in the northern hemisphere.
We as a world cannot afford to keep pulling trees down it is an absolute crime not only against the environment but with each tree that is felled you are sealing the fate of humanity, no matter how small an area is that is being deforested, and no matter where it is in the world it is adding up and the balance is being outweighed and we have little time to re address this balance and chopping more trees down where some have taken 400 years to grow is adding to the problem.
It is sheer hypocrisy on the governments part when with one hand it pretends to care by building a pointless flood warning centre and then with the other hand chops more trees down, it beggars belief it really does and I really don’t know how your conscience allows you to rest when you have a responsibility here to do the right and just thing.
We will make it our duty to inform as many people as is necessary and pool together our resources to let the people know what a total sham this is and to expose you and the government, you neither care about the environment or the people. OUr website is http://www.saveourearth.co.uk