CHURCH FIELDS ARE PROTECTED

LOCAL people may remember the Heritage Society’s attempt in 2014 to obtain Commons status for Church Fields, several acres of wood, scrub and grassland close to Ramsbottom town centre, owned by Peel Holdings. The application went to public enquiry but was rejected.

Since then we have applied for a single Tree Preservation Order to protect every tree within a designated zone. The trees are mainly ash, but with willow, oak, beech, hawthorn, silver birch and hazel well represented.

Peel Holdings objected, and paid for an arboriculture survey, but the council put forward a very robust case to support TPO status, formally granting this as of August 1, 2018.

Bury Council is keen for local people to identify individual trees, or groups of trees, which warrant protection. One of our members, an expert in these planning matters, came up with the idea of suggesting the whole of Church Fields, as a natural extension of Crow Lumb Wood, and wrote the application.

Ramsbottom owes her an immense debt of gratitude.

With this protection, permission must be sought to cut down, top, lop, uproot, wilfully damage, or wilfully destroy any tree on the protected site, whatever its size or species.

We believe that this order extends a whole new level of protection to Church Fields, and very difficult to overturn in any planning application for building. Andrew Todd Ramsbottom Heritage Society