In our previous update, we let you know that we had written to Align setting out our concerns about Ilona and informing them of the amount of energy and commitment that has been given by local residents, The Woodland Trust, Bucks councillors, Parish councillors and our MP Sarah Green into saving her. We asked Align for a commitment to read and respond to our options for alternatives to felling Ilona as set out in our email to HS2 in September 2022.
A response was received on 27 October 2023 stating that Align are already fully aware of the issues surrounding Ilona and Leather Lane and that at their opening meeting with Bucks Councillors they set it out as an early issue to resolve.
We are very cautiously optimistic about Ilona’s fate.
We have also received positive feedback from Bucks Council about Align’s intentions to meet with LLCG in the very near future to discuss proposals for the Leather Lane over-road designs.
We are looking forward to further engagement with Align.
We are also pleased to have received international news coverage in the venerable French broadsheet ‘Le Monde.’ Whilst the overall thrust of the article was rather political, the journalist interviewed both Councillor Jane McBean and Carol-Anne O’Callaghan, our founder.
A rough translation of the quote is below:
“Opponents of HS2 are also frustrated, with the section between London and Birmingham being retained [whilst the Birmingham to Manchester leg was scrapped], because earthworks for the future tracks are already underway to the north-west of London and two giant tunnel boring machines have already excavated more than half of the 15 kilometres of the railway tunnel beneath the Chilterns. Carol-Anne O’Callaghan has no words harsh enough to express her resentment. Along with other inhabitants of the Chilterns, this retired teacher fought for three years to preserve Leather Lane, an ancient holloway bordered by a hundred venerable oak trees, most of which were slated for felling because they were close to the high-speed line. It is around Leather Lane in the beautiful Bucks countryside that the novelist Roald Dahl drew inspiration for his novel ‘Fantastic Mister Fox’. “The trees along the path form an exceptional habitat, sheltering up to eight species of bats, they serve as a maternity ward and sustenance zone” explains Carol-Anne.”
A last plea
For several years, we have campaigned to preserve the wildlife corridor formed by a line of oak trees, planted beside Leather Lane by the Liberty family. This is now one of the last remaining East-West links across the HS2 route, and so heavily used by wildlife, particularly bats. The HS2 design specifies a new bridge, to be constructed on the south side of the lane, which would pass through the tree corridor twice.
So far, the Campaign has
Paid a Consultant Engineer to design a bridge to the North side of the lane, which allows all the remaining 87 trees to be preserved.
Raised over £25,000 (by a crowdfunder) to pay for this.
Held a meeting with EKFB (the HS2 contractors) and Bucks councillors, at which it was established that our bridge design meets the required specifications.
Conducted a bat survey over many nights, before and after some of the trees were felled, and paid for this to be analysed. The endangered Barbastelle bat was recorded on numerous occasions, along with 7 other species.
Drawn attention to the failure of the contractor to implement the required tree protection measures for the trees to be retained; this has now been rectified.
Gathered 43,000 signatures on a petition to save these trees.
Registered Ilona with the Ancient Tree Inventory.
Organised a letter writing campaign to Mark Thurston (former HS2 CEO) to object to the felling of the iconic Ilona the lone oak, which has resulted in Ilona remaining in the ground to date.
We continue to collect bat data, hold bat walks for local people to attend and we are campaigning for a green overbridge to be part of the design.
Engineers and Ecologists are not cheap!
Please contribute to our Crowdfunder, and help us bring our mission to save Leather Lane, and Ilona to a successful conclusion.
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 over 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/LeatherLaneCG
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OaksSave
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ilonatheoak
Website:
If you can assist in any way, please let us know by email. Any help will be most gratefully received, no matter how small.