Fears for future of amuch-loved forest

Now there are fears that the beautiful forest might be ruined forever by a scheme to cut down between 10,000 and 11,000 tonnes of trees over the next two decades.

There are also worries amongst surrounding residents that the local rural roads will just not be able to cope with all the inevitable extra heavy lorry traffic, transporting the timber away for processing.

The first that people living in the area around what was a Victorian private estate heard of the scheme was when they received a letter, dated September 29, from Egger Forestry Ltd.

The letter said that they had been commissioned by the landowner to come up with a 20 year “management plan” for the forest and gave the locals 28 days to make their objections and observations.

At least one nearby resident who DOES have plenty to say about the proposal claims she is finding it nearly impossible to get in touch with Egger to express her views.

Living right on the edge of the forest at Damhill Cottages, Mrs Esther Warren told the Gazette this week: “When I saw the letter I became alarmed thinking about how they were going to get all that timber out of Corehouse using the roads we’ve got around here.

“However, when I sent my message to the e-mail address provided, it just bounced back.

“Then I tried the telephone number provided and my call just went onto a message machine; I still haven’t had a reply to that message.”

The Gazette approached Egger and a spokesman commented: “The main purpose of the plan is to manage woodland succession from the current mature stock that is becoming vulnerable to damaging and unsightly wind-blow to a more diversified age structure where work and wind damage have less impact on the landscape.”