Dear friends and supporters

As the days draw out and the evenings warm up we are heartened to see and hear the bats out again in Leather Lane. See our video here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0KV5f9YdaSo 

A year on and 87 veteran oak trees at Leather Lane are still standing. We are doing our best to protect these trees as well as ensure mitigation for the fragmentation caused to the bat corridor. We continue to engage with HS2’s subcontractor EKFB and relevant parties to save as many trees and protect the vital bat corridor. We are expecting a meeting with all stakeholders any day now.

We have the top UK bat experts and a team of Ecologists onboard who believe that HS2 should be providing better mitigation for the gap in the bat corridor created by the removal of trees last summer for the HS2 track itself. To date that hasn’t happened. To quote Dr Anna Berthinussen, a leading expert on bat conservation:

“I would strongly recommend that a substantial and appropriately designed green bridge is installed as a matter of urgency to re-establish this important habitat corridor over the proposed railway line.”
Link to her full letter here: http://misbourneprotection-wp.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ABerthinussen_Campaign-to-save-Leather-Lane-trees.pdf 
We were grateful to Great Missenden Parish Council for inviting us to speak to them on Monday 11 April. As a result of our efforts, there was a unanimous vote by the Great Missenden Parish Councillors to support the campaign in principle: to minimise the ecological impact resulting from the alignment of Leather Lane. Great Missenden Parish Council wished the Campaign success.

We have brought to the attention of both Great Missenden Parish Council and Bucks County Council the legal and ecological basis for diverting the over road to the North of Leather Lane in order to save the remaining trees and the commitments made by HS2 to ensure that HS2 maintain the nature of Leather Lane as a Holloway. As a result, we have insisted that Leather Lane remains a single track lane with passing places, which has been taken onboard by Bucks County Council.

We have also highlighted:

• The lack of mitigation for the impact on the bat flight corridor of the trees already felled for the track;
• Our concerns about the lack of protection afforded to the remaining trees from the surrounding HS2 earthworks. We do not believe that HS2 are adhering to their responsibilities in that regard; and
• We have asked the Parish and County Councils what will happen to the Ancient Holloway of Leather Lane when the realignment is complete. Thus far we have had no response.

Our Ecological argument is very strong and supported by in-depth ecological surveys and reports from the UK top bat experts. We also have a top engineer with 50 year’s experience. HS2 cannot match this.

Any decision made needs to be based on the strong Ecological arguments which are supported by law and HS2’s own Environmental Statement. Whilst EKFB are keen to focus the meeting on the viability of our design, we want to remind EKFB and Bucks Council that this meeting is primarily about finding solutions to the ecological issues that have arisen with EKFB’s design for Leather Lane. Our design provides a solution to those issues.

Your donations to date have been crucial to our campaign. Without them, we would not have been able to pay our engineer and ecologists so far, so thank you!

We still need to raise over £10k, and we need your help to achieve this.

You can donate to our Crowdfunder: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-towards-legal-case-against?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer , or directly through BACS Transfer or Cheque - Account Name: Leather Lane Crowdfunding, Sort-code: 30-96-38; Account No: 11509663.

How you can help:

Please continue to share our local petition: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1fYj-1_77s_hDjlAH8auN5w_sXh8j8HqyYg6ma8lAQ1Lshw/viewform with your friends and family. For friends, family and colleagues that are not local to Leather Lane, you can email them this petition to sign. We have almost 43,000 signatures and it would be amazing to get this figure to 50,000.

You can also help by following us on our social media channels below, sharing our Facebook posts, retweeting our Tweets and reposting our stories on Instagram.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SaveLeatherLaneOaks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OaksSave
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ilonatheoak

If you can assist in any way, please let us know by replying to this email. Any help will be most gratefully received, no matter how small.

We thought we would leave you with this picture of Ilona with her fresh green leaves, still standing strong amidst the earthworks. She is a testimony to the resilience of nature and the impact a group of local residents can have.