Ecclesfield Conservation and Local History Group’s Response to Amended Plans Submitted re. Application 14/01079/OUT-Smithy Wood

Ecclesfield Conservation and Local History Group responded on 16/5/14 to the original application. A further copy of this first response is attached for completeness.

The additional documents submitted to the Council in July clarify to some degree the details of the scale and location of the proposed development but, in our Group’s view, the nature and extent of the resulting impacts are unchanged and were reviewed in our original response. The single most important of these impacts remains the potential loss of Ancient Woodland, which is part of an irreplaceable national resource.

The Arboricultural Report submitted in July surveys the tree stock in some detail and attempts to identify those trees which will be lost to the development footprint. However the report ends by concluding that the real value of the site lies in the overall value of the habitat itself, including the ground flora, rather than in any of the individual trees and that the trees’ “collective value is much higher” (quoted directly from the report). This reinforces the point that Ancient Woodland such as this is a unique and valuable resource which should be protected from development because it cannot be simply and easily replaced.

This Arboricultural Report confirms our Group’s view that this application should be refused because of the proposed development’s unacceptable impact on the local environment: biological, cultural, archaeological and historical. Ecclesfield Conservation and Local History Group continues to object to this application.

Ian Deans

Chairman

Ecclesfield Conservation and Local History Group