Please help us now...
The Trust has been working to save Broughton Woods from being turned into a golf course. Last summer, with the valuable support of members our campaign against the golf course resulted in the planning application being refused by North Lincolnshire Council. Unfortunately however success was short lived and the applicant appealed against this decision.
The hearing of the planning appeal evidence started in August 2009 and the Trust fielded three witnesses to defend the ancient woodland. The complexity of the application has resulted in the the appeal running over its allocated time period - so unexpectedly the inquiry will restart again in November.
The Woodland Trust campaigns vigorously for no more loss of ancient woodland and this case is proving to be an important precedent. We are willing to throw everything we can to save Broughton Woods but we have limited resources for fighting these threats, especially as this case is now running for much longer than anticipated. The Woodland Trust’s costs in fighting this appeal look set to exceed £40,000 with legal costs taking up a substantial proportion.
How to donate:
Please send a donation now so that we can keep on fighting to save an important area of Lincolnshire’s green lungs.
We haven’t asked our members for help with a case like this before but it is so important we feel we must.
Telephone 0800 026 9650 with your credit card details or click on 'donate'.
Background:
The Broughton Woods complex, immediately south west of the village of Broughton, and 2.5 miles east of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire. Grid Reference: SE952080.
There is an existing 27 hole membership golf course (Forest Pines) and hotel facilities which are owned by Q Hotels. The northern edge currently adjoins a large woodland complex known as Broughton Woods. Most of the northerly part of this woodland identified as plantation on ancient woodland (PAWS), but it has recently been established that the southern parts of the woodland complex (Gadbury and Lundimore Woods – which adjoin the current golf course) are also both PAWS. These have now been added to the Ancient Woodland Inventory and contain an attractive mix of both conifer and broadleaf trees with varied ground flora.
The proposals result in the loss of 33.4 hectares (82.4 acres) of acnient woodland and the applicant has suggested that the golf course extension will be good for the local economy and suitable for large championship events. They claim these economic reasons justify the loss of this ancient woodland.
These claims are spurious as ancient woodland is irreplaceable and the integrity of this wood would be destroyed by fragmentation into tree belts and smaller blocks by interposing the nine additional golf holes through it. Furthermore, the intrusion into the woodland area caused by up to 61,000 rounds of golf and 127,000 golfers per annum, swelled by a further 10,000 visitors daily at championship events (all applicant’s figures), could only contribute to the further degradation of the habitat.
Woodland Trust position:
The Trust is strongly opposed to this development and considers the applicant’s case is weak. Both national and local policies protecting ancient woodland state that there should be no loss, unless there is an overriding public interest leading to the benefits outweighing the disadvantages.
Neither can legitimately be argued here, particularly as it would be feasible to extend the golf course on adjacent land outside the woodland. Of course, this may not lead to the creation of such an attractive golf course until new planting becomes established but it would provide an attractive backcloth to the course.
Please read the Trust's appeal evidence to learn more about our case. The original application documents can be obtained from the Council’s website (application reference PA/2007/1172).
