Get a whole year of cutting-edge eco-building news for just £24.00 pa.
Built upon 30 years of experience, this fabulous new medium will feature inspiring and in-depth articles on eco-building projects from across the spectrum and from all over the UK, most of which are written by the very people that designed or built them. Perfect for architects, builders, developers, self builders and anyone interested in keeping right up-to-date with green building trends and friends.
For subscription options:
please go here
|
|
|
Campaigners demand extra protection for woods and forests |
|
 
|
|
|
|
30 Jun 2012, 1:27 PM
|
A challenge has been issued in advance of the ‘forestry u-turn’ panel’s recommendations. The final report of the Independent Panel on Forestry is expected on Wednesday next week, and the Campaign to Protect Rural England has urged the Panel to be ambitious in its recommendations.
|
CPRE also want the Government to take prompt action to make a positive and progressive vision for England’s woods and forests a reality.
Ben Stafford, CPRE’s Head of Campaigns said: “England is a comparatively lightly wooded country, and last year hundreds of thousands of people showed that we are fiercely proud and protective of our remaining woodlands. Proposals to sell off parts of these treasured landscapes, with the threat that public access and proper woodland management could be lost, were met with dismay and outrage.”
“Ahead of their recommendations, we want the Panel to remember that profound public anger and ensure they set out a clear vision for both strong protection and future extension of England’s woods and forests. The Government will need to embrace the proposals the Panel makes, and take swift action to secure a better future for England’s Public Forest Estate and the country’s woodlands more widely.”
The Panel was convened in the aftermath of the Government’s U-turn on its consultation on sales of Public Forest Estate land, which led to a major backlash by hundreds of thousands of people around the country.
CPRE has outlined five key goals for the Panel’s report and is calling on the Government to take action to turn these aspirations into reality:
*Recommend specific extra protections for some of our most important woodlands. For example, CPRE has been campaigning for the Forest of Dean to be made an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). This would ensure that this unique and much-loved area gets the stronger protection it needs and deserves.
*A competition calling for ideas on where to create a second National Forest for England, to follow in the footsteps of the successful Midlands National Forest. This approach could reflect that adopted by the Government to identify the first wave of Nature Improvement Areas.
*An increase in woodland cover across England, with a focus on planting trees in areas close to where people live and encouraging community-based initiatives. This will allow more people to get out into woodlands and appreciate their special qualities.
*Greater access to private woodlands, alongside continuing good access to the public forest estate. Local authorities should be encouraged to negotiate with woodland owners to open up access to the public, and this can also be agreed as part of Environmental Stewardship schemes.
The planting of more trees in the wider countryside to enhance local character. In particular, more hedgerow tree saplings need to be nurtured to ensure that they can become the next generation of hedgerow trees. If we do not grow new hedgerow trees, our distinctive English landscape will be very different – and less varied and poorer for wildlife – in future.
In England, only 10 per cent of the land area is forest and woodland (the figure for the UK overall is 12 per cent). This compares to 29 per cent in France, 31 per cent in Italy, 32 per cent in Germany and as much as 69 per cent in Sweden and 73 per cent in Finland. The average for the EU-27 is 37 per cent (all figures from the Forestry Commission’s ‘Forestry Facts & Figures 2011’).
More than 500,000 people signed a 38 Degrees petition opposing the Government’s proposals.
Nature Improvement Areas were a flagship policy contained in last year’s Natural Environment White Paper ‘The Natural Choice’ which set out aims to improve the quality of the natural environment across England, halt the decline in habitats and species, and strengthen the connection between people and nature. http://bit.ly/MCczMc
|
|
|
|
