Why is Ilona at risk of felling?
HS2 have still not taken on board any of our suggestions for an alternative to felling Ilona, the Ancient Lone Oak with a canopy of some 18 metres, that stands atop Leather Lane; connected to it by an ancient hedgerow. HS2 have stated that she must be removed for ‘visual screening’ as part of their Landscape design!
Despite our request that HS2 explain why the alternatives to her being felled are ‘unworkable’ they have not replied. She is not in the way of the track or the haul road.
This is in direct contravention of HS2’s own Environmental Statement and the mitigation hierarchy embedded in law which requires HS2 to AVOID ecological harm where possible.
You can read our latest letter to HS2 here.
How you can help
We have a template letter for residents to send to Mark Thurston the CEO of HS2expressing your objection to her felling. Please copy and paste the letter into an email or send by post. Email addresses below:
mark.thurston@hs2.org.uk; Maddelyn.sutton@hs2.org.uk; kat.stanhope@hs2.org.uk; saveleatherlaneoaks@gmail.com
Postal address: HS2 Ltd, Two Snowhill, Snow Hill Queensway, Birmingham B4 6GA
Mark Thurston HS2 CEO
CC: Maddelyn Sutton, Head of Engagement, Phase 1 South
Kat Stanhope, Ecology Lead, HS2 Phase 1
The Campaign to Save Leather Lane Oaks
Address/Village/Date
Dear Mr. Thurston
Re. Ilona the Lone Oak at Leather Lane, Great Missenden
I am writing to express my distress and disgust that HS2 plans to remove a veteran and heritage oak tree that is over 200 years old in order to replace her with a pile of earth (a ‘bund’) and saplings as part of your “visual and sound screening” because you want a “consistent landscape design”. I demand that you give proper and careful consideration to all the alternatives put forward by the Campaign to Save Leather Lane Oaks in order to save the Oak.
She has been part of the Chilterns AONB landscape for over 200 years.
We are in a time of climate change and we really need veteran oak trees to help to lock carbon in the ground, process CO2 and prevent more flooding.
Newly planted oak trees are unlikely to ever attain the proportions of existing veteran trees, due to the activities of the grey squirrel population. This makes the retention of existing oak trees even more vital to maintain the ecology of the AONB, particularly as Ilona is a Category A specimen, one of the finest of her species
You are obliged to follow your own Environmental Statement (ES) and the Mitigation Hierarchy, which are embedded in law, and must AVOID harm where possible. Therefore, as it IS possible to avoid felling this veteran oak, then you MUST do so.
I have been informed that she has a Root Protection Zone of 13.30 metres. A 13.30m RPZ would require only around 40m of noise barrier/retaining wall to protect the tree & provide noise insulation, as opposed to the landscape bund that you are proposing. Ilona is also over 75m from the track centre, and presumably outside the security fence, so there is little risk of interference with the line, even in the unlikely event of her falling during a storm.
We have already seen so much needless destruction just in this small part of the Chilterns. HS2 has destroyed ecology without need or the required surveys.
Here is an opportunity for you to show that you do have regard for laws to protect biodiversity, including the protection of veteran trees (needlessly felled by HS2 at Kings Lane and Grimms Ditch nearby). This is also an opportunity for you to prove that you do have regard for the local Community’s heritage and their opinion.
It would be a very strong public demonstration of your commitment to the Environmental Statement and respect to the heritage of our community, if HS2 confirmed that it will continue to protect Ilona’s roots from harm and design an alternative visual landscape barrier around her leaving her in situ for many more years to come.
I look forward to hearing from you.
NAME
For more Info:
HS2 - Amersham Action Group (hs2amersham.org.uk)
How you can help:
Please continue to share our local petition with your friends and family. For friends, family and colleagues that are not local to Leather Lane, you can email them our Change.Org 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: @Saveleatherlaneoaks
Twitter: @OaksSave
Instagram: @ilonatheoak
Tiktok: @slloaks
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.