We were delighted to have made the local press - Sophia from My Local News wrote an excellent article about us. Click HERE for the link or read the full article below.
ILONA THE TREE: Conservationists celebrate one-year anniversary
Published on: 9th November 2023 | By: Sophia Sheera |
The Leather Lane Conservation Group (LLCG) are celebrating the passage of a year since the local community successfully registered an ancient tree called Ilona to the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree Inventory.
On October 29, residents and councillors from Amersham, Great Missenden and surrounding parishes expressed their gratitude that the iconic ancient oak tree still stands proud, despite ongoing environmental destruction wrought by the HS2 project.
Over the past year, the conservation group have actively turned to a number of related campaigns: namely, keeping each of HS2’s contractors up to date with Ilona’s significance; and continuing to advocate for the safety of a long line of oaks along Leather Lane plus the bats and wildlife native to the area.
The conservation group successfully raised over £30 000 to pay a consultant engineer to design an overbridge to the north of Leather Lane rather than the south, avoiding the felling of 87 trees. Having amassed over 43, 000 signatures on a petition to save these magnificent oaks, the group has ensured that the area can continue to provide foraging habitat and connectivity for bats and other endangered wildlife.
More recently, LLCG presented HS2 with their proposals for a green bridge at Leather Lane to mitigate the damage caused by the removal of oak trees for a haul road and train track. This proposal has garnered support from the Woodland Trust and other interested parties.
LLCG also hosts monthly bat walks for residents during bat season in order to raise awareness of local ecology. The group plans to set up a BATSAC, a special area of conservation for bats, to protect the biodiversity of the ancient Holloway for generations to come.
LLCG is always looking for new residents from Amersham and beyond to get involved. To find out more, check out www.facebook.com/LeatherLaneCG or http://leatherlane.org/
Photo Credit: Leather Lane Conservation Group
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.