NEWS AND COMMENT: It’s in The Times today and it’s a shocking story not only of vandalism by a private landowner living on the shores of Lake Windermere but of the inefficiencies and inadequacies of the UK’s authorities who are, today, underfunded.
The Times reports that an acre of greenery suspected of having been cut down illegally.
The report is that a landowner has a large area of land adjacent to Lake Windermere. The photograph shows the lake shore as it was with dense trees and foliage and then after the trees have been felled illegally.
Chris Packham, the TV naturalist and environmental campaigner has become involved. He said that he was appalled by the damage on the shoreline. He also decries the lack of funding to agencies and local authorities to enforce the law when this kind of callous damage occurs.
He said that “There is legislation to prevent this from happening but there isn’t the wherewithal to implement it. When you have national park authorities being cut by 40% it’s going to encumber them and they are going to have to cherry pick what to do. I sympathise with the agencies because if I had a magic wand, I would bang on the Treasury doors and say double, triple and quadruple their budget.”
And Packham said that replanting these trees could be very difficult because it isn’t always a successful process. Growing trees isn’t easy he says.
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The wooded area concerned is attached to a privately owned property, apparently a cottage. It’s on the side of the lake made famous by William Wordsworth.
Local residents are appalled when they noticed in the summer that the occupant of the said cottage had “laid waste” to scores of trees. They appear to be engaged in ground work whatever that means. It seems that the actions of this property owner are in breach of planning regulations.
Property owners must obtain a licence to cut down more than 5 m³ of trees within a three-month period.
A neighbour said that “the local people who know about it are just astonished.”
It isn’t just the trees. These trees would have been the habitat of lots of wildlife including several species of birds as well as deer, squirrels and polecats. Some of the trees were more than 100 years old.
The local authority has not taken enforcement action and neither has the Forestry Commission. That might be due to lack of funding but we don’t know.
The Forestry Commission is reported that their team had carried out a site inspection and their investigation is ongoing.
A restocking notice can be served on the owner of the land should the tree felling be deemed to be unauthorised.
Such an order would require the owner to replant the land. It would take precedence over any subsequent activities or planning permission according to The Times report.
But then again, Packham says that planting trees is problematic. It will clearly take a hundred years to get it back to where it was and, in the meantime, the local population will have to look at a scarred landscape in an area of great beauty.
The local authority said that they had a backlog of 650 cases which is why they had yet to take action against the owner. A spokeswoman said: “We take enforcement very seriously and will take action where and when necessary, hence we rank 21 out of 326 local planning authorities in England for the issuing of enforcement notices. And we will continue to take action, including prosecution if individuals do not conform when asked.”
The local people believe that the authorities don’t have the means or resources to deal with people who flout regulations. But this is described as the jewel in the crown of the English countryside and its being blighted by irresponsible people engaged in vandalism.
Britain is broke thanks to Covid and the billions bunged at people (furlough) including scammers who got away with it. There is no money left.
