Witham: Ancient woodland like a 'bomb site' (From Gazette)

Witham: Ancient woodland like a 'bomb site'

2:00pm Sunday 12th February 2012 in Braintree By Carri-Ann Taylor, Reporter

Villagers have accused Essex County Council of destroying an ancient woodland to make a profit.

Rivenhall residents are furious a large section of the Tarecroft Wood off Rickstones Road has been flattened and money from timber sales thrown into the council’s coffers.

Essex County Council claim the work, known as coppicing, is part of a woodland management programme.

It admitted it will take a cut of the profit made from the timber, but said the cash will be reinvested into woodlands.

Parish councillor James Abbott said: “This is nothing more than a timber extraction exercise, the more trees the county council cut down, the more money they make.

“It looks like a bomb has gone off here, they have taken all the heavy timber, and left the smaller branches strewn across the ground.

“One of the trees cut down was a 110 year old oak.

“This is a well loved and well used piece of woodland, local people are devastated.”

The County Council claim it consulted parish councillors about the work before it started.

To read full story, see this week's Times.