Out of the mouths of babes...

The other day I had this lovely picture put through my door by the parent of a little girl who lives in our road. It's great to know that local people of all ages treasure Thorpe woodlands and care about their fate. I was also struck by the way she has managed to convey in her picture some of the key points about these woods and why they are so precious to us and those who live in them - the wildflowers and broadleaf trees with their nuts which feed the wildlife and create new saplings, along with the birds and fungi that flourish in this environment. I hope you find this as charming and heartening as I do.

More questions than answers

Following the mass walk in the woods held on 28th August, the T&FT complained, in the subsequent Evening News report, that they were 'disappointed' with some of the contents of this blog. They also said they wanted to engage in a meaningful dialogue with FTW. FTW wrote to the Evening News to say we have been trying to open a dialogue with T&FT for weeks, but had so far been ignored. We also stated that we are confident that all facts on the blog are correct and challenged them to tell us which they dispute.

The letter was published on 3rd September. The Evening News reaches the shops around mid-day. By 4pm, T&FT were sending emails right, left & centre to people who had emailed questions to them since their charrette started on 6th July. We are sure it was just coincidental that they got round to breaking their silence hours after our letter was published!

The T&FT's replies are interesting in that they merely reiterate everything they've already said, without challenging any of the material on our blog or giving meaningful answers to any questions. They were also evasive about the video recording of the charrette's final presentation that Andres Duany promised everyone present. Many of their replies failed to mention this at all, and those that did merely said that the recording would be available 'soon', on their website. That was a week ago, and their website still hasn't changed since July 13th. I wonder if it ever will?

Other news:

The public meeting debacle continues. The latest is that T&FT want to postpone their next presentation until after the GNDP Joint Core Strategy public examination has been completed. This could well mean that the meeting won't take place until November or even December. T&FT have, apparently, promised that they won't abandon their promised meeting altogether. It wouldn't be surprising if this were to change though, as it is hard to imagine them looking forward to it eagerly any more. The tide of public opinion has turned very decisively against their scheme, with many people who were originally won-over by their charrette having contacted FTW recently, expressing their disgust at the way they were sidetracked and misled, and wanting to join the campaign. It is doubtful whether T&FT have any supporters left at all, and understandable that the prospect of appearing in front of a large audience of well informed opponents doesn't appeal to them.

FTW volunteers have been distributing leaflets around the area, and membership has grown steadily - fast approaching 400 today. Leafletting will continue, with the Thorpe End area to be targeted next. It is unlikely that anyone living in Thorpe End welcomes the prospect of the woods' destruction any more than people in Thorpe St Andrew, Sprowston and Heartsease. If anyone would like to help with leaflet distribution etc., please contact Lorna.

Friends Gain More Support

The last 10 days have been a busy time for the Friends of Thorpe Woodlands.

The walk through Belmore and Racecourse Plantations by over 100 local residents and 5 District Councillors has resulted in a great deal of publicity for our campaign to save these wonderful woods.

The EEN covered the walk and many letters have been published in support.

Membership of the Friends has tripled, and our cause is gaining support from more and more people.

In addition to the welcome, and highly valued support that we have received from the council we have also been contacted by Chloe Smith MP. In her letter, which is shown here, she states that she is sorry not have been able to join us for walk but she declares that she supports our cause.

This campaign depends upon the local people who have worked so hard over the last two months. We would ask all our members to continue their excellent work, and continue writing to the press and spreading the news to their friends and neighbours about the threat to our woods and the campaign to save them

GET OFF OUR LAND!

This was the message that greeted some 100 Thorpe residents who turned out to demonstrate their opposition to any development in the Thorpe woodlands, on Saturday 28th August.



Amusingly, the landowners (Thorpe & Felthorpe Trust) had hurriedly placed 'No Trespassing' notices at every entrance to the woods. They'd even gone to the trouble of dating them, as if to highlight that they were aimed at the protest walk. Perhaps there is a mole within Friends of Thorpe Woodlands, as we hadn't publicised the event other than via contacting the membership list. We don't really mind as we've got nothing to hide - and remember, moles can go in both directions!

100 people was a good turnout by any standards, but especially so given that we hadn't even thought about organsising anything until 36 hours earlier. Also attending the demo were five of the six Broadland District councillors representing the Thorpe area: Ian Mackie, John Fisher, Nigel Shaw, Suzanne Hayes and Graham Walker (pictured below) accompanied the march along Pound Lane and into Racecourse Plantation. All expressed their wholehearted support for the campaign to prevent the loss of any of the woodland. The sixth BDC councillor, Kim Davies-Claydon, was unable to attend due to other commitments: FTW are hoping she will also come out against the development concept. Several Thorpe Town Council members were also present in support of FTW.

Despite the developers' desperate attempts to deter demonstrators, all were able to freely enter Racecourse Plantation. The sun shone, birds sang and dragonflies whirred above our heads as everyone had a good look around the interior of the woods, many for the first time. People were amazed to see what T&FT had described as a 'commercial forestry plantation of conifers planted after the war'. Several walkers remarked that they had expected it to be like Thetford Forest and were astounded at T&FT's audacity in trying to make people believe this. Hardly a conifer in sight - just a handful of tall pines among the proliferation of hazel, birch, sweet chestnut, sycamore, beech and oak, some of which have clearly been there since the Crimean war. Admittedly, T&FT have never specified which war they were talking about!

The 'No Trespassing' notices were something of an own-goal by T&FT. Until now, T&FT have gone out of their way to present as nice and friendly an image as possible, telling everyone at the Town Council meeting on 7th July how kind they had been in tolerating unauthorised use of their woods by local people. Their friendly facade is clearly well rehearsed, and seemed to have won a few people over a few weeks ago. But since the indisputable facts about their scheme have been made known even the early sympathisers' views have changed, and many feel understandably deceived by assurances that only the least ecologically important parts of the woodland would be built on, and that the best parts would be retained. The areas identified by T&FT as 'best' are indeed good, but the rest is even better from an ecological perspective!



Nobody appreciates being taken for a fool. Judging by the feedback from today's mass walk in the woods, many feel this is exactly what they have been taken for. The reality of the woodlands' age and species composition is clear to see, even from a casual glance from any of the roads bordering them, but especially when in the heart of them. People remember being told, by T&FT representatives, that they had never considered any development proposals for the woods until now (the minutes of the 7th July meeting bear witness to this). When local people realised that T&FT had drawn up proposals for a very similar housing scheme for Racecourse Plantation as long ago as 2000, and had objected to the BDC Local Plan in 2005 on grounds that the woodlands should be allocated as potential development land, and that T&FT submitted their woodlands as a potential site for an 'eco-town' in 2007, any remaining faith in T&FT's words evaporated.

The public meeting that had been proposed for September has already been put back until early October, at the request of T&FT, who say thay are still working on their plans. It is rumoured that they are now looking to put it back even further, possibly until November. FTW understands T&FT's dithering, in view of the fact that they must be stumped as to what they can say to undo what have been exposed as their previous - shall we say (to paraphrase Hilary Clinton) - mis-speakings.

We still don't know when the September/October/November meeting at Thorpe High School is to be held, but we will post this information on the blog as soon as we have it. What we can say is that, according to BDC councillor Nigel Shaw, the T&FT has reluctantly agreed that the meeting will not be under their control but will be chaired by Thorpe Town Council. We understand that it will take the form of a presentation by T&FT of their latest plans, followed by a presentation by FTW of their case for preservation of the woodlands in their entirety. We hope that, following these presentations, members of the public will be able to ask questions of both parties.

Finally, despite T&FT's expression of welcome for the formation of Friends of Thorpe Woodlands (please see previous blog post), they have still not rseponded to our formal request for the video recording of their final 'charrette' presentation of 13th July. All present were clearly promised a copy of the recording, by Andres Duany. We can't help but wonder whether they have something to hide - possibly Mr Duany's obvious lack of knowledge about the woodlands and anything remotely related to ecology? If you would like a copy of the video recording, send an email to: broadlandlandgroup@gmail.com to request it, and ask for an explanation for the delay (it is nearly seven weeks since the promise was made).

Keep watching the blog for more news as it comes in. Events are happening thick and fast. We have some very interesting information from (as yet) anonymous sources on arboricultural (tree-related) matters. All will be revealed in due course! To join FTW, please contact Lorna C Beckett at: lornacbeckett@yahoo.co.uk

[Photos by Jason Beckett, text by John Allaway]

Meetings - what meetings?

Friends of Thorpe Woodlands (FTW) has now gained the enthusiastic support of at least two local councillors. Cllrs Ian Mackie and Nigel Shaw have publicly expressed their commitment to preventing the loss of any of the woodlands to development. We hope that all other Thorpe St Andrew Town councillors will come out with similar views. We must also hope that the Broadland District councillors for the area, as well as those on BDC's planning committee, will agree that these woodlands must be saved.

A somewhat concerning revelation has recently come to our attention. Ian Mackie has told us that he, and other councillors, had been led by the Thorpe & Felthorpe Trust (T&FT) to believe that they could remove the woodlands whenever they wished, regardless of whether they obtained planning permission for their development scheme. This is a grave misrepresentation of the truth: no landowner can remove woodland without (a) obtaining a felling licence from the Forestry Commission and (b) obtaining planning permission from the local planning authority (BDC in this case) for change of use. The fact that T&FT apparently succeeded in convincing people - including councillors - that they could, has caused some to believe that it might be better to accept the development than oppose it and end up with no woods at all. FTW immediately informed the councillors of the true situation, but there must be several people in the area who still imagine that they could lose the woods altogether unless they agree to a fraction of them being retained as part of the development, and we must work hard to correct this misapprehension.

Thorpe St Andrew Town Council (TSATC) had intended to hold a public meeting on 23rd August at the Dussindale Centre, at which T&FT were to announce progress on their plans. However, this has now been cancelled. Steven Ford, TSATC clerk, told us that he'd decided such a meeting could pose public safety issues. Apparently, so many people contacted him when they found out about this meeting, the view was taken that far more than would fit into the room would turn up.

Slightly worryingly, TSATC has now decided to hold a private meeting on 23rd August at which Gail Mayhew of T&FT will meet with the clerk, the mayor, Cllr Barber and Cllr Shaw. The purpose of this meeting is, seemingly, to discuss the public meeting that TSATC called for on 7th July, to be held in September at Thorpe St Andrew school.

Much more worryingly, the September meeting has been thrown into confusion. At the 7th July meeting, attended by some 200 people, TSATC voted unanimously to adopt the motion: "The Town Council supports and fully understands the anger of local residents at the plan to deprive them of one of the few open spaces in the Town: it will oppose this scheme by all means available to it". Furthermore, as the minutes of that meeting record, Town mayor Russel James "asked if those present would like a public meeting in Thorpe St Andrew and there was overwhelming support from the audience. Mr James said it would be best left until September when the outcome of the Joint Core Strategy was known".

In answer to a question from FTW on 20th August, Steven Ford confirmed that there has been no change in TSATC's position. However, it seems that TSATC is now considering allowing the September meeting to be controlled by T&FT. Mr Ford has told FTW that as T&FT will be paying for hire of the venue, it could be considered 'their' meeting! Despite our protestations, in which we have referred to the minutes from 7th July, Mr Ford appears to remain of the view that TSATC may need to ask for T&FT's kind permission to allow FTW and the public in general to speak!

If it turns out that the September meeting is to be under T&FT's control, and a re-run of their final charrette presentation - at which Andres Duany did his best to avoid taking questions on the principle of the scheme and on anything to do with the woodlands' ecological importance - it will be a travesty. This was supposed to be a public meeting called by TSATC on behalf of the people it represents - not an opportunity f0r the developers to tell people what they think they should be told.

We will know more after tomorrow - watch this space.

Campaign news update

(Read on for article 'Campaign news update')
There has been some very good press coverage of the campaign recently, with several letters in the Evening News and EDP. On 21st August, an excellent half-page article by Kim Briscoe was published in the Evening News.
In this article a spokeswoman for the Thorpe & Felthorpe Trust (presumably Gail Mayhew) is quoted as having said: "The Trust welcomes the formation of Friends of Thorpe Woodlands and looks forward to a productive discussion as to how to conserve and improve the areas of quality woodland within the plantations". We can't help wondering whether the T&FT's welcome is any more sincere than many of their previous claims about the woodlands and their scheme.
The second part of the quote gives a clue as to their angle, in that it refers to 'conserving & improving the areas of quality woodland within the plantations'. Their previous statements have made it clear that they consider only certain parts of the woodlands to be of any 'quality' and, interestingly, although these areas are good, they are less interesting from an ecological perspective than the rest. They have obviously taken advice only from foresters, who regard as 'good' only tall, straight conifers with clear stems that are marketable to the timber trade. We must hope that the T&FT will concede that although the areas they've identified as 'good' should be retained, the rest of the woodland is even better and should also be retained. As soon as they understand this, they can save themselves further work and expense on pursuing their development ideas, and save us the trouble of correcting them at every turn!
In the same article, the spokeswoman said: "We look forward to the Friends' views on how to eradicate fly-tipping and vandalism within the woods". However, once again the facts are against them. The level of flytipping and vandalism is actually amazingly low - far lower than at any comparable sites around the fringes of Norwich. There are a few spots where people have dumped small quantities of garden waste, and a pair of burned-out scooters in Racecourse Plantation. But there is a surprisingly small amount of litter and, although it is possible to find the odd small tree that has been snapped, evidence of significant vandalism is elusive. FTW would be happy to discuss ways of reducing flytipping, litter and vandalism even further, but this will have to take a back seat until the future of the woodlands as a whole is secure: after all, what greater vandalism can there be than bulldozing most of the woodland to oblivion?
The spokeswoman went on to say: "The Thorpe and Felthorpe Trust, like the Friends, are committed to the conservation of the environment and are developing proposals through public consultation to develop areas of lesser quality plantation woodland for various uses, including housing and local amenities. This would enable a long-term management regime to be put in place to enhance the woodland to enable public enjoyment while at the same time delivering development that is sustainable and location efficient".
FTW have to dispute this. Treating over 200 acres of wildlife-rich woodland as a potential building site can't, by any stretch of the imagination, be regarded as being "committed to conservation of the environment". The reference to "areas of lesser quality plantation woodland" is, again, interesting. The T&FT's masterplan shows virtually all of Racecourse Plantation covered by buildings and roads. It would help everyone if T&FT would take the trouble to educate themselves about woodland ecology. FTW would be very happy to discuss ways by which a long-term management plan could be drawn up to enhance the woodland for public enjoyment, but only if the development proposals are permanently withdrawn.

Friends of Thorpe Woodlands officially launched

'Friends of Thorpe Woodlands' has now been officially launched, with a Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, a Constitution and a Mission Statement. The Mission Statement is: 'Working for the conservation and preservation of Thorpe's woodlands as a haven for wildlife and a green space for the local community'. The primary objective of FTW is to protect the three woodlands currently under threat, and to inform the public, as well as decision makers and organisations that have influence upon decision makers, of these woodlands' enormous environmental, ecological and social values.

Any one wishing to join FTW, and who is in agreement with its mission statement and objectives, is welcome to contact Lorna Beckett on: lornacbeckett@yahoo.co.uk or on 01603 438603.