Now we can see the woods for the trees...

Here are some aerial photographs of the woods, kindly taken for us on 24th January by Mike Page (shown by his plane). In winter, the distinction between coniferous and deciduous trees is clear.

This photo is looking west with Dussindale Drive in the foreground.

This photo is looking west, with Plumstead Road parallel with left margin.

This photo is looking east, Plumstead Road through vertical centre.

This photo is looking west, Plumstead Road through vertical centre.

These pictures show the woods that the landowners told everyone were coniferous plantations planted after the war. We think the pictures tell their own story.

Friends of Thorpe Woodlands would like to express our great appreciation to Mike for his help in taking these photos. There can now be no doubt that the Thorpe & Felthorpe Trust were mistaken (to put it at its kindest) in their claims. The total coniferous area can be no more than 15% at most.

We know you watch our blog, T&FT Trustees - will you now issue a statement apologising for misleading the public and acknowledging that the woods are nothing like the description you foisted upon us?

MEET THE MAYHEWS

Thorpe's woodlands are owned by the Thorpe & Felthorpe Trust, the Trustees of which are five of the grand-children of John Gurney MP, who died in 2000. We had the pleasure of meeting three of the Trustees during their 'charette' last July. Barney Mayhew and Justin Meath-Baker addressed the Thorpe Town Council meeting. Justin also made himself available for questions at the charette drop-in sessions, as did Gail Mayhew (who is not a trustee but is married to Henry Mayhew). Jerome Mayhew introduced the charette's final presentation.

John Gurney had eight grand-children. We don't yet know which of the others are the remaining Trustees, but we now know quite a lot about some of them, thanks to information from other groups campaigning against various Mayhew money-making schemes.

At the charette meetings, the Trustees gave the impression of being quite ordinary people. Certainly, their appearance and manner of speech scarcely hinted at any lofty social status. One Trustee actually seemed quite offended at the suggestion that they didn't need to make money from the woods as they were already rich. But any impression of ordinariness was just that. The Mayhews and Meath-Bakers aren't merely a bit well-off - they are genuine upper class landed gentry. And at least some have fingers in other lucrative pies involving exploitation of woodlands.

The Mayhew's father is Baron Mayhew of Twysden (a.k.a. Patrick Mayhew, a former big-wig in the Thatcher & Major cabinets). The Hon. James Barnabas Burke Mayhew (a.k.a. 'Barney') is a barrister now practising as a 'security' advisor to foreign aid agencies. Henry Edmund Burke Mayhew lives in a nice house in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea with his wife Gail, owns a business consultancy and stood as a UKIP candidate in the 2005 general election. Jerome Patrick Burke Mayhew and his brother Tristram Thomas Burke Mayhew are owners of Go Ape, a company that builds 'adventure' courses in woods and forests.
Samuel Justin Francis Meath-Baker (ie: Justin Meath-Baker) said at the charette that he was an interior designer, but he is no mere wallpaper salesman - Justin has offices in Mayfair and a shop in Covent Garden, and designs interiors for the likes of Christies boardroom, exclusive London clubs and top-class hotels. When an empty property next door to his five bedroom London house started lowering the tone, his preferred solution was to simply buy it: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/movinghouse/3324151/Trouble-next-door.html
William John Clovis Meath-Baker owns Walsingham Abbey and is an ex-diplomat and MI6 officer. We currently know little about Hugh Lysander Meath-Baker (honestly, I'm not making these names up!) and Joshua Ralph Meath-Baker, but it seems safe to assume neither are busking for a living. Details on each family can be seen here: http://lackfamily.net/genealogy/names/whole%20family/f731.html#f990 and http://lackfamily.net/genealogy/names/whole%20family/f204.html#f956

Jerome & Tristram's Go Ape business is interesting. Go Ape has a very close relationship with the Forestry Commission, with which the Mayhews have sealed a deal that effectively allows them to put forward Go Ape schemes in every Forestry Commission woodland in Britain: http://www.moneyweek.com/news-and-charts/tristram-mayhew-how-i-shook-1m-from-the-money-tree-43538.aspx They are already raking in millions from 22 Go Ape courses but they have ambitions to expand to 40 by 2012 and to set themselves up in USA and Australia.
In Wales, the Mayhews want to build what they're calling a 'Zip Wild' Go Ape course on Moel Famau, a beautiful, unspoilt forested mountain that is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Friends of Moel Famau are campaigning as hard as they can against this scheme, and have even been to meet the Mayhews, only to find them unmoved by their pleas to leave their wonderful countryside alone. See this link for more info: http://moelfamau.com/ Interestingly, the Mayhews have produced a website to promote their scheme here: http://moelfammau.openforum.zipwild.com/about-zip-wild.asp Note the swathe of missing woodland beneath the zipping girl; the mis-spelling of Moel Famau, and - most amusingly - the section headed: 'And our values?' Uncannily similar to the worthy-seeming platitudes they lavished on us at their charette.

The Mayhews' ambitions have led them beyond Forestry Commission land into public parks. Near Liverpool, Lever Park has been a tranquil wooded landscape for all to enjoy for 100 years. This hasn't stopped the Mayhews transforming it with a Go Ape course. The promise of a slice of the money-pie lured the local council on-side and they began work on the course, illegally felling trees (until they were stopped) and causing outrage among the local community - whom the council had failed to consult! The outraged organised themselves into The Friends of Lever Park: http://www.leverpark.co.uk/ whose complaint to the local government ombudsman was upheld: the council were found to have been guilty of maladminsitration on several counts. The Mayhews employed their usual formula for presenting their schemes to the public: nature conservation was, they said, uppermost in their concerns, and their scheme would benefit the environment, avoid any damage to trees and provide deprived urban-dwellers with a unique opportunity to enjoy the natural world. FLP pointed out that - even if they were to overlook their felling of trees without even waiting for permission - their courses entail banging numerous six-inch nails into trees which probably isn't good for them, create lots of noise, attract excessive traffic and - at £25 upward for a go on the course - are way out of the range of kids from deprived areas.

In Glasgow, a public park that was gifted to the city nearly a century ago was only saved at the last moment by a unique Scottish law called "Common Good". Friends of Pollok Park fought a long battle against the Mayhews and - to their shame - their own city council against a Go Ape in North Wood, an ancient area of the Park much loved by local people. The Mayhews said: "We will work with the local community to address any concerns they may have" - again, sounds rather like what they've told us at Thorpe, doesn't it? And like Thorpe, they addressed the barrage of concerns that flooded in by completely ignoring them. We can't give a link to Save Pollok Park because they closed their website last year, having won their campaign. Nor can we give a link to Save Thorndon Park as this campaign, in Essex, also succeeded in thwarting the Mayhews. Here, the presence of great crested newts in harm's way, and an objection from Natural England, derailed the scheme.

The Mayhews' Australian venture also turned into an embarrassing defeat. They had decided that a Go Ape course would be nice in Bidjigal Reserve - a fantastic primeval forest on rocky outcrops just outside Sydney. Local campaigners thought otherwise, as did the Oz equivalent of Natural England and many eminent ecologists. Again, the promise of a piece of the cash-cake seems to have seduced the council, which failed in its job of standing up for one of the most important nature reserves in that part of Australia. If it hadn't been for the huge efforts of Save Bidjigal Reserve: http: //savebidjigalreserve.net/ together with the Aboriginal people (whose land it is anyway!) the peace and beauty of Bidjigal would have been lost. Yet again, the Mayhews told everyone that they only wanted to bring much needed facilities, economic benefits and environmental respect to the area.

The examples above show several things of interest to us in Norwich. They show that the people we're up against have plenty of experience in trying to push environmentally damaging schemes through regardless of local opposition. They show that they have a carefully crafted formula to work to, involving skilful persuasion to entice people into believing they wouldn't harm a fly. They show that they are immune to appeals for reason or recognition of the obvious. And they show that they are very good at getting local authorities on board.
However, these examples also show that they can be defeated and - when the opposition is sufficiently well informed and organised - often are. We should take heart that - so far at least - they have not succeeded in securing any support from Broadland District Council. As far as we are able to know, BDC's councillors and officers are not inclined to support their scheme, and are well aware of the scale of opposition locally. With the May 2011 local elections on the horizon, and a big shake-up of local planning policies in the wake of the GNDP's Joint Core Strategy, it is up to all who care about our woods to let BDC know that we want them kept free from development.

Leaving 2010 on a High Note!

As 2010 comes to a close, it's good to be able to end on a high note by adding these scans of the Eastern Evening News front page from Christmas Eve, where the woodlands made the headlines thanks to Paul Andrew, whose excellent idea it was to start the Christmas tree, and Lynda and John who were happy to let us share their special story with the press. None of us could have hoped that we would get such great publicity, which in turn has led to high numbers of visits to this blog and new people joining the Friends. Above all, it highlights the great community spirit both in and around the woods and how loved and valued they are.

Thank you and a happy New Year to all of you who have supported us in 2010. We enter 2011 with an impressive amount of local community support and feeling more determined than ever to save beautiful Thorpe Woodlands for the future.

Seeing the wood for the trees

This map is taken from a development proposal drawn up on behalf of the Thorpe & Felthorpe Trust in 2001 (those who attended the T&FT's meetings in June will recall them stating that they had never considered any development in the woods until this year). The map shows the woodland types identified within the site boundaries. We have changed the colour-coding to make the various categories of woodland easier to distinguish (the original map was hand-coloured in very similar shades of green), but the map information is otherwise absolutely identical to the original.

The dark green indicates conifer plantation: those who attended the June meetings will recall the Trustees repeatedly stating that the woods were almost entirely conifer plantations, planted after the war. This map shows that, as far back as 2001, the T&FT were in possession of clear graphic evidence - commissioned by themselves - to show that only a relatively small proportion of the woodlands could be described in this way.

A lot has changed since 2001. The second map has been revised by us to show the changes. In Racecourse Plantation a large block of woodland mainly to the east of the main north-south ride, was cleared of conifers several years ago and is now 100% broadleaved woodland, consisting of a mix of regrowth from stumps & roots, mature broadleaves that were not felled, and young natural regeneration. The brown area, indicating 'disturbed ground' must have been exaggerated as it is now mainly covered by woodland. In Belmore Plantation, the block shown as coniferous towards the north has shrunk by nearly half since 2001, and is now a mix of broadleaved natural regen and wilflower-rich glade.

It is hard to imagine how the T&FT could have overlooked these facts prior to their 'charette' meetings. They own the woods after all, and went to great lengths to tell everyone how much trouble and money they have spent 'managing' them. Now that we've gone to the trouble of making their own map comprehensible and publishing it for all to see, perhaps they'll rush to apologise publicly for leading the people of Thorpe astray? It would be nice if they would.

However, in case they don't, and in the interests of maximum factual accuracy, we are hoping to carry out an aerial photography flight in January or February. When all the deciduous trees are completely leafless, the true extent of the coniferous component of the woods will be very clear to see (larch - a deciduous conifer - is not present in significant numbers, so the aerial photos will give a reliable and up-to-date picture).

We will, of course, publish our aerial photos on the blog.

Spirit of Christmas is overflowing in Thorpe Woods

Thanks to Paul Andrew, local resident, regular walker of the woods and ‘Friend’ of Thorpe Woodlands, there is a real sense of Christmas magic in Belmore woods this year. Paul, like so many others, loves the woods and wanted to do something to raise their profile this Christmas, so he came up with the great idea of inviting everyone who wanted to show concern for their future, to hang a decoration on a particular, appropriately shaped Holly tree in Belmore woods. People’s response has been wonderful and within days the tree has become laden with messages of affection and support, baubles with children’s names upon them, and decorations galore from both those who regularly walk in the woods and others who have come in especially to show they care.

Paul has said that: ‘for every bauble we get in support we will be hanging a fat ball (obviously out of the netting) in the woods to help the birds during this tough time’, so all will gain.
I have been going daily to the woods to take photos of the tree as it’s taken shape, and every time I have had the treat of seeing the look of surprise and delight on unsuspecting walkers faces when they come upon the tree for the first time, most declaring they will be back the next day with their own contribution. This tree has become the heart of the woods and a symbol of the local communities love for the woodlands, people gather to read the messages, discuss with one another the plight of this much treasured place, and to wish one another a merry Christmas, with the added hope of, and ‘May these woods be here for many Christmases to come’ (I quote from one of the messages tied to a bauble). It is impossible, amid all this festive goodwill and community spirit, not to feel the Ebenezer Scrooge like spectre of the Thorpe and Felthorpe Trustees hanging over both the local people and woodlands, and like Dickens’ immortal story, it is their heartless greed and meanness of spirit which casts such a dark shadow over so many lives, but sadly, unlike this moral fictional tale, few have hope that the Trustees will come to see the error of their ways and choose to do the decent thing, and therefore it is up to us, the community, to fight for the woodlands future survival.

But I have no intention of ending this blog entry on such a note, far from it, I want to share with you an email I received from another Thorpe Woodlands ‘Friend’ on Tuesday night:

Hi Lorna,
Just to say the tree looks beautiful, even in the moonlight! My boyfriend proposed to me by the holly tree tonight, so we are officially engaged.... we have left a note on the tree :)

It was a special evening for us, being winter solstice, the lunar eclipse and the anniversary of our first meeting all rolled into one, and what better setting in the snow, under the moonlight, by the pretty holly tree in our woods !

Thanks for your continuing work to help save our woods.
Lynda

You couldn’t get a more magical or ‘feel good factor’ than that, and in so many ways Lynda’s message sums up what this time of the year and our fight to save the woods is all about.

So congratulations to John and Lynda and a happy Christmas to all our supporters and may the New Year be a good one for man, tree and animal alike.

From Russia with love?

Looking through the blog's statistics reveals some interesting figures. Predictably, over 99% of 'hits' are from UK sources, with a fair chunk of the remainder from USA (also predictably - Christmas greetings to Andres Duany & co!). But a significant number of others are viewing this blog from all around the world - including, in the past few weeks, a surprising number from Russia.

Friends of Thorpe Woodlands would be very interested to hear from any followers of our campaign from Russia - or indeed from Holland, Germany, Italy, France, Ukraine, Greece, Israel, Niger, South Africa, India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada or Brazil (apologies to anyone from countries I've overlooked).

Everyone in the world is more than welcome to look at our blog, and it's gratifying that it is attracting such widespread interest. We would really like to hear from anyone abroad who is involved in fighting similar development threats to their woodland or other habitats. Please feel free to leave a comment using the link below, or send us an email to: lornacbeckett@yahoo.co.uk

Wishing all who are fighting to save what remains of our precious natural world a sincere happy Christmas and a successful 2011. And to all who are trying to destroy it for personal gain, we hope your Bentleys get stuck in snowdrifts!

Two negatives make a positive!

A supporter has recently commented that the blog is too negative, and requests some good news for a change.

I suppose it is simply in the nature of this campaign that much of what we have to say is highly critical, though I'd disagree that it is negative. An important fact to bear in mind is that, right from the outset, we have been dealing with a group of people (ie: the Thorpe & Felthorpe Trust and their agents) who have tried every trick in the book to persuade people that they mean well, and that what they want to do will be good for local people and the environment.

It was noticeable shortly after the T&FT's series of charette sessions and meetings that a number of people had been swayed towards the T&FT's side of the argument. These people are extremely persuasive and highly skilled in public communication techniques that succeed in diverting attention away from the basic issue (ie: that they want to turn the woods into a housing estate), onto theoretical and very particular issues that seem quite 'green'. In the early days, their persuasiveness was showing signs of paying off. Several local people commented that although they wouldn't want the woods to be built on, perhaps it would be better to agree with the scheme because the owners would get their way anyway (one of the tactics deployed during the charette was to portray the scheme as if it was a foregone conclusion). Others remarked that as it was the Gurney family we were up against we didn't stand a chance (it's true that the Gurneys have many friends in high places in Norfolk). Others believed that unless they got what they wanted, the owners would fell the entire woodlands out of spite (something one of the T&FT Trustees was apparently heard saying at one of the meetings). Yet others believed the Trustees' tale that they found themselves forced into a situation where they had no alternative but to build on the woods, as they had outlived their economic usefulness as woodland. And many originally accepted at face value the T&FT's claim that the woods were not much more than modern plantations of conifers.

Faced with a situation in which a significant number of people had picked up so many misapprehensions, half-truths and outright lies, Friends of Thorpe Woodlands considered it crucial to set the record straight, and then to provide as much well-researched, factual and reliable information as possible to the public.

So here's the good news: We have gone a long way towards achieving this objective!

On July 6th this year, hardly anyone even knew about the plans being hatched by the previously unheard of T&FT. By July 13th, ie: the end of their charette, hundreds of people were aware and up in arms about it, but there was a lot of misinformation and confusion in circulation as to what exactly was planned and what could be done about it. By August, Friends of Thorpe Woodlands had been formed and, by the end of August we had over 100 people turning out on a demonstration walk through the woods, and all of the Broadland District Councillors for the Thorpe area in full support of the campaign, as well as Chloe Smith , MP for Norwich North.

FTW members and supporters have worked together to raise the profile of the threat to the woods, and their ecological importance, to the point where the issues are now well known and well understood. FTW's membership list has grown to around 400 and continues to grow. Richard Mabey, the well known author and ecologist has publicly stated his support. The Woodland Trust is supporting us, and will issue a position statement soon. Norfolk Wildlife Trust's position statement has been widely circulated and has done much to overcome the falsehood that the woods are not of high ecological value. We have also attracted support and assistance from a wide range of other environmental organisations and campaign groups, though many do not wish to be identified as such yet (though we hope to be able to make some announcements soon).

We have tried to organise some positive events as well as concentrating on getting the message across about the dire threat to the woods. We have considered a litter-picking day and nature walks through the woods, but the T&FT have made it clear that - despite their public assertions that they want to engage in a dialogue with FTW and that they are concerned about protecting the natural environment - they will stand in the way of any such initiatives. On the day of the mass walk in the woods they placed 'Keep Out' notices at all entrances, and they have completely ignored our numerous attempts to engage in discussion with them.

To conclude, although the facts can be somewhat depressing I don't think we have been unduly negative. It is simply undeniable that unless all who care about the woods do whatever they can to save them, they could be buried under streets named after the wildlife that once lived there. FTW welcomes all suggestions for ways in which we can improve and develop the campaign - please contact us (see 'Your Woods Need You' posted on 2nd August) if you'd like to suggest anything or become a member. And feel free to add a comment via the link below.