Weldon Park Wood SSSI

HL Deb 01 December 1982 vol 436 cc1233-5

Lord Melchett

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why they agreed to the destruction of 40 acres of Weldon Park Wood SSSI in Northamptonshire, and whether they can guarantee that the rest of the wood, including 30 acres at the southern end, where no felling licence is required, will now be protected.

The Earl of Avon

My Lords, my noble friend the Minister of State for Agriculture and my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, the Member for Sutton and Cheam, having received and considered advice from all interested parties, concluded that the owner should be allowed to fell part of the wood. As to the remainder, the provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act relating to sites of special scientific interest are now in force and, if application is received to fell further areas, the consulation arrangements authorised in the Code of Guidance for SSSIs will apply.

Lord Melchett

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Earl for that reply. Does that mean that the Government will support the NCC if it refuses permission to the owner to clear the 30 acres at the south of the wood, which apparently the owner has said he intends to clear, in direct contradiction of what the Ministers involved said after they had visited the site and made their decision? Is the noble Earl aware that his honourable friend at the Department of the Environment said that he understood that the 30 acres would not be cleared, and this has now been contradicted by the owner?

The Earl of Avon

My Lords, I had not heard that the owner had contradicted what had been said. I am advised by the Forestry Commission that the majority of the remaining woodlands carries licensable size timber and therefore a licence would be necessary before it could be clear felled. With regard to a Section 29 order, it is for the Nature Conservancy Council to decide whether to seek such an order, and if it did, the Secretary of State would then give it proper consideration.

Lord Gisborough

My Lords, has my noble friend noticed that there is just as much conservationist concern directed against cutting down trees as there is directed against planting them in other places? Is it not essential that trees should be cut down when they are due to be cut down, planted when they are due to be planted, and that the matter should be managed on a proper rotation, regardless of conservation?

The Earl of Avon

My Lords, I am sure that my noble friend speaks much sense, but I do not especially wish to be drawn on that particular argument. Adequate procedures already exist to ensure that the Forestry Commission consults, as appropriate, the agriculture departments, local planning authorities, and other relevant statutory bodies, before reaching a decision on an application for grant or for a felling licence.

Lord Stanley of Alderley

My Lords, is it true that the 30 acres referred to in the Question was cultivated during the 1939–45 war and that since that time it has fallen into its present disuse and become scrub, due to bad agricultural management?

The Earl of Avon

My Lords, I have not records as full as those of my noble friend, but according to our records the area was clear felled in 1938.

Lord Melchett

My Lords, first, can the noble Earl confirm that the proposal in this case is not to cut down trees and replant them but to clear the woodland, which is a small remnant part of an ancient forest, and convert it to agricultural use, which would totally destroy it? Secondly, can the noble Earl confirm that the 30 acres that is referred to in my Question, and to which the noble Lord behind him has just referred, would not require a consent from the Forestry Commission before it was cleared?

The Earl of Avon

My Lords, with regard to the first part of the noble Lord's supplementary question, yes, I think that he is right. So far as the second part of the question is concerned, my understanding is that it would probably require a licence.

Baroness David

My Lords, may I ask the noble Earl whether, in fact, Ministers are to make decisions in these matters, since I understood that the NCC was to have responsibility for them? I thought that FWAG (the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group) was told that Ministers would not be interfering in this way.

The Earl of Avon

My Lords, it is only a last resort in cases of dispute.

The Countess of Mar

My Lords, may I ask the noble Earl whether the Government consider the present felling controls and consultation procedures to be adequate?

The Earl of Avon

Yes, my Lords, we do; and I think that I went into the point in some detail when answering my noble friend Lord Gisborough.