Teesmouth Bird Club

Just when we were all delighted that the Forestry Commision was at last thinking beyong seried rows of alien conifers, and now planting and managing for wildlife and amenity; the government announces a plan to sell off these nationally owned woodlands to private forestery enterprises. Of course there have been the usual platitudes of retaining access to the public and biodiversity encouragement and words to similar effects. However the blinding truth is that these new owners are first and formost businesses and anything else is a mere side show. In our immediate area your club has been working with Guisborough about long term planting and management matters. This initiative will be dead in the shell if the proposed sell-off goes ahead. Various action groups across the country are mustering petitions to oppose this at their local level and for all I know there may be one such locally. However there is a nation wide petition, seeking signators which can be Googled at " 38 degrees ". If you feel strongly as I do, please show your opposition to this dreadful prospect.  Thank you.
Alistair McLee

could not agree with you more Alistair, I have signed the petition and would urge all members of the TBC to do so asap regardless of which political party they belong to. We must not allow the Goverment to destroy any more of our countryside in the name of making money. Once these forests are gone they are gone for good. SIGN THE PETITION NOW!! get your family friends to sign do it now.
Alan Crossley

The forestry commision sold off land 25yrs ago so that a certain wealthy man could build an exclusive council estate WYNYARD.

would it be possible to place Alistair's original article on the TBC home page to make more people both members and guests aware of this petition. The more people who sign up the more chance there is stopping the sell off happening.

Sorry Alan but to believe a Petition from the 2 people who will sign it on here will stop this when the likes of Sir John Hall can buy the land build an exclusive estate shutting down public rights of way in doing so is  IMHO living in a dream world when one of the threads with the most posts is about a dead Koi carp. Sorry Noel

Find your response dissapointing Noel, the petition does not consist of 2 people but in fact 229087 have signed as of now, if we just sit there then we do not have the right to moan when we are denied access to many of favourite woodland places. Also woods=birds without which many of woodland birds who are already struggling with a lack of habitat. As most people who log onto our site do so through the home page a small announcement placed there would do harm and hopefully get more people to sign the petition. Many people at my place of work were unaware of this petition but have today put forward their objections by signing the petition. I feel you are not giving our membership the chance to make their own minds up as to wether to sign or not.
Anyway the decision rests with the webmaster/committee.

Today , on behalf of the club, I have written to DEFRA to express our opposition to the government's plans. If anyone wishes to write to DEFRA privately on this matter, then please feel free.   Head of Department, Caroline Spelman, DEFRA Nobel House, 17 Smith Street, London, SW1P - 3JR.            Alistair McLee

 I've signed the petition and passed the site on to friends to sign also.

Sorry Alan I speak from personal experience my late brother Peter was one of those who lost his job when Wynyard was sold off this broke him as a working man the only consolation we all have is that it gave him time to create a bird watching facility that everyone on here enjoys CBWP for this he got no thanks or recompense the only thing he got from the local council was an order to get off that land CBWP once again I will politely ask the newbies to this area of birdwatching please study your local history before you decry someone for stating the facts if you want any further info about him contact Frances Tasker, the Dr. David Bellamy or your ex MP Frank Cook all of whom will tell you about his work in the area of birdwatching in the Billingham-Wynyard area.This is said with all due respect.Noel

I am digressing I know from the main issue which I initiated here, but I was interested in the statement about the Forestry Commission selling off land to John Hall in 1987. The entire Wynyard estate was sold by the Londonderry family in that year to Mr Hall as he was then. The FC were never players or owners of part of the land. They may have leased some for their own plantings of conifers but the poor state of the present plantings would suggest that they were never involved at any stage.

I have added this to the front page - sorry for the delay but work has been very busy.

Glad to see Alistair correcting the 'facts' stated above.

Thaks for your time and effort Jamie.

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-forests

291700 and counting

291700 out of a population of 62000000 one brilliant petition I am not negative just brutally honest,if a march of 500000 couldn't stop a war what chance has this petition got

Petitions, however well supported by the people of the UK , may not prevent the sell off of our woodland, but compromises can be wrung; stipulations and safeguards attached to sales. At the moment there is a great government smoke screen to the effect that ancient woodland and places like the New Forest will be safe. Well the truth is that these types of woodland never would be in any real danger of commercial exploitation for a variety of reasons. It is those certain areas within presently commercially run F C forests, which are threatened; areas which are not parlicularly good for quality tree growing, and can be spared for conservation purposes. These are your Nightjar and Woodlark clearings which support diversity; the quiet corner where Goshawk nest. A private company will view these as wasted areas in terms of timber production, and plant up with conifers, regardless of how poor the timber crop may be. Why? Very simpl e- much of our locally grown wood, which was virtually valueless a few years ago, now has a price as fire wood for the new generation of wood fueled furnaces for electricity generation - look no further than the timber wagons entering Wilton site. The idea of renewable energy sources is excellent and laudable, but there must be protection from overplanting of every acre of available land. ( Oh, and by the way, I hear that those ancient woodlands are to be offered to the  "big charities" to be managed and what if these bodies do not want them?) Alistair McLee