Woodland Trust calls for more woodland in Norfolk

In their  article and editorial of the 10th October (Make a Tree-mendous Difference- page 16) the EDP reported on the fact that the Woodland Trust has identified Norfolk and Norwich as areas that are in need of more woodland. Norwich in particular is identified as an area where free public access to woodland is low. The Trust call for the planting of trees and the creation of more woodland.

In the light of this report the plight of Thorpe Woods is even more significant.

These woods lie on the edge of Norwich and cover an area of 200 acres. However the current owners of the woods continue to push forward with their plans to fell this native woodland and build a housing estate.

The people of Norwich and Thorpe have valued this wood for generations and have made their opposition to these plans clear at public meeting and demonstrations.

The Friends, whose many members come not only from from Thorpe St Andrew but from Norwich and the wider county , have been working for over two years with conservation bodies and local politicians to draw attention to the importance of these woods, which should be preserved not only for the people of Thorpe but for the people of Norwich and the whole of Norfolk.

Hopefully before long Broadland District Council will formally recognise the value of this rare green space and act to preserve it for future generations. 

We will update you soon on the current position the woods and their proposed status within the councils development triangle, and how you can make clear to the council that you would like these woods to be protected from any form of development and secured as a greenspace for the people of Norwich and Norfolk.

Update- Broadland District Council Extraordinary Meeting & Thorpe & Felthorpe Trusts new developers

For over two years the Friends have been working closely with three local councillors who have supported the campaign to save Thorpe woods from development.

Ian Mackie, Nigel Shaw and John Fisher have met us on a number of occasions and even took part in the public demonstration through the woods in August 2010 to demonstrate their opposition to the owners proposals to build 800 homes on Belmore, Browns and Racecourse Plantation.

The fate of the woods is largely dependent on the status they are given within the Joint Core Strategy. In the next few months Broadland District Council will hold a public consultation on where new housing should go, it is vital that the council recognise Thorpe Woods as a green space that must be preserved and therefore exclude it from the areas opened up for development.

Last week the council held an Extraordinary Council Meeting to discuss the options for the location of future development.  The options were Alternative 1 which would allow development both inside and outside the route of the future Northern Distributor Road (NDR) or Alternative 2 which would concentrate all development within the NDR.

As the woods fall within the NDR Alternative 2 would have placed more pressure on them.

Councillors Mackie and Shaw asked Broadland District Council Leader, Andrew Proctor, the following question:

I am opposed to development on the Thorpe Woodlands. Therefore, could the Leader explain why choosing Alternative 1 for pre-submission would be the most appropriate in order to best defend the Thorpe Woodlands from development?

Andrew Proctor answered:

It's fair to say that we all want to see the best development in the best place for the future and as part of that ensure that our key environmental assets are protected.

Alternative 2 would intensify pressures on the environmental assets either through direct pressure for development or trespass/disturbance; that the potential to link environmental  assets into strategic green corridors may be compromised; and it would be likely to require land not currently being promoted for development.

That makes Alternative 1 the most viable route to see the best development in the best place for the future.

In response they asked:

Are the Thorpe Woodlands considered to be one of our key environmental assets?

Andrew Proctor answered:

Yes.                                                               

It is positive to hear that the council recognises Thorpe Woods as a key environmental asset however the owners, Thorpe & Felthorpe Trust are continuing to lobby for the woods to be considered as a potential site for development.

In fact, it appears that they are working with a new developer called Socially Conscious Capital, a company that specialises in developing sites “with problems and obstacles or sites which have a history of unsuccessful promotion”. The company is headed by Rock Feilding, a friend of Gail Mayhew, who spends most of his time in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

The company uses many of the same soft words and phrases used by the owners first choice of developer, the American Andres Duany of DPZ (if you attended the Charrettes held two years ago you will be familiar with this approach) in essence this involves using words such as sustainable, community, environment, legacy in an attempt distract you from the inescapable fact they want to destroy a 200 acre woodland.

We will keep you informed on any further developments we here about, and please do let us know if you hear of anything that you think may be important.

UK Woodlands Should be 'held in trust for the nation'.

What a great source of optimism the announcement on the 4 July by the independent panel appointed by the government regarding the UK’s forest proved to be, with their unequivocal statement that the UK's forest should not be sold, but, "held in trust for the nation".. It only goes to underline once again how important the Friends of Thorpe woodlands fight is to try and protect over 200 acres of local woods.

The report only echoed what most of the public know and believe – that woods are good for our general wellbeing, every child should have "an element of woodland-based learning” but also that woodlands could actually help "drive a sustainable economic revival" and we should be aiming to increase England's woodland cover from 10% to 15% by 2060.

The Friends of Thorpe Woodlands have always put forward the argument that the Thorpe and Felthorpe Trust, who own these local woods, should utilise the timber by managing the trees properly and make money through harvesting renewable energy, rather than flattening these beautiful woods to build up to 800 houses, so it is great to see this panel reached the same conclusion:   "We need a new culture of thinking and action around wood and woodlands," the Rt Rev Jones said in the report's foreword…."[We need] a new way of valuing and managing the natural and social capital of our woodland resource, alongside the timber they contain."

It only serves to underline the importance of Thorpe woods and how any plans to destroy them runs contrary to government policy and the interest of Norwich, Norfolk and the country as a whole.

Tree Warden Walk at Belmore Plantation

The Thorpe St Andrew Tree Wardens will be holding another walk at Belmore Plantation next Tuesday at 7pm.

The walk will start at the South Hill Road entrance to the woods and stout footwear is recommend.

Last years walk was a great success and so we hope as many people as possible will come along.

Strong Support for Protection of Thorpe Woods

Many respected bodies and individuals have issued strong statements of support for Thorpe Woods, these include The Woodland Trust, Norfolk Wildlife Trust and CPRE.

In addition local politicans including Councillors and the MP for Norwich North have set out their support for the campaign to save Thorpe Woods from development.

Please click here to read more about their support.

Statements of Support.