Five-year plan likely to cause disruption

As a resident of Raincliffe Woods I would like to point out a few things that may be of interest.

When Raincliffe Woods Community Enterprise became the management, their aims were to protect and enhance the biodiversity as well as the amenity value of the wood. It is sadly failing at these aims but I fear the greatest disaster is yet to occur.

Even though the Woodland Trust is their main advisor and contractor, it appears not to have considered the extent of the destruction and disruption. The public will be shocked at what will occur over the period of their five year plan.

A quick summary would be as follows (full plans available on the Raincliffe Woods Community Enterprise website):

Row Brow Woods “thinned to waste” (many trees cut and left to rot).

Parts of Forge Valley “thinned to waste”.

Each year for five years, 1,000 tons (40 to 50 lorries full) removed from Raincliffe Woods.

Thereafter 500 tons (20 to 25 lorries full) each year.

Opening up of roadways to enable access for removal by large machinery and forestry lorries.

In return for this Scarborough will receive:

£15,000 per year for three years to go to the Raincliffe Woods Community Enterprise (after which fees will be charged for management that will, at the end of the five years, have used up the £45,000). No local employment. No input to the local economy.

An asset, both natural and financial, damaged or destroyed.

Reconsider now. The trees do not have to be cut down this year or on such a fast schedule. Consider a much smaller operation, employing local people, that will help retain any monies in the borough of Scarborough - to whom the woods belong.

Although stated in their warm-worded brochures, I doubt the sincerity of the Raincliffe Woods Community Enterprise and Woodland Trust commitment to the habitat and wildlife that make up Raincliffe Woods.

Take a photograph now, so that in the future, you can show your grandchildren what Raincliffe Woods was like. Jenny Wren Mowthorpe

Hackness