Environment secretary Owen Paterson suggests 100 new trees should be planted for each ancient one destroyed
Ancient woodlands can be cut down to make way for new construction if developers agree to plant 100 trees for every one they destroy, under new proposals by the environment secretary.
Owen Paterson said that "biodiversity offsetting" could accelerate construction, providing jobs and easing the pressure on housing prices, but critics warn that the proposals could result in the destruction of forests dating from around 1600.
Patterson said that developers could choose a site to replant trees up to an hour's drive away from the lost forest.
He said the model for his scheme was the construction of the M6 toll road near Manchester.
"I think it was 10,000 mature trees and they planted a million young ones. Now people will say that that's no good for our generation but over the long term that is an enormous increase in the number of trees. That is a practical example of a high amount of planting following a tragic loss of some wonderful trees," he told the Times.
"The point about offsetting is that it will produce a better environment over the longer term."
Paterson also said that he wanted the scheme to be compulsory in order to get environment and wildlife groups involved in identifying sites where developers could invest their money.
"In the longer term, the more you can move towards a mandatory system the more you get a market. You do want people to come forward with offsettable sites, that's the key thing. You want a bank of sites [with groups saying:] 'come and improve our woodland'," he said.
The coalition has suffered when it has attempted to legislate on forests. In 2011, the government abandoned plans to sell of 250,000 hectares of state-owned woodland in the face of public anger.
Major projects such as the London-Birmingham high-speed rail line from London to are a particular threat to ancient woodlands. The Woodland Trust says that 380 ancient woods in England are under threat from development including 40 along the route of the new trainline.
Read more here >> The Guardian
