Save Wyming Brook Trees
Save Wyming Brook Trees
The Issue
Petition to
Tom Hunt (Leader of Sheffield City Council)
We, the undersigned, demand an immediate stop to the felling of trees at Wyming Brook Nature Reserve. As the landowner, you have a duty to protect this very special place, possibly Sheffield’s most celebrated beauty spot and a jewel of nature. The operation to remove over 1,000 larch trees that is currently underway will destroy forever what the people of Sheffield and beyond have come to know and love. There will no longer be a “wooded ravine” but a bare-sided valley in a post-apocalyptic landscape, as has been the case with other larch woodlands in the region, such as the former nature reserve at Redmires.
The project is deeply flawed and wrong-headed, for several reasons. The science is poor and being misused; the process undemocratic and opaque; the public communication is misleading and sensationalist. When we take a closer look at the rationale for taking a wrecking ball to this community and heritage asset, it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
The instruction to fell trees has come from the Forestry Commission. The FC are concerned with timber production from commercial forests. That does not apply here - this is an amenity landscape. The larches in Wyming Brook were planted not for their timber, but for their beauty. In the 1800s the grand ornamental drive was formed, meandering round the steep gradient so walkers can see into the canopies of trees. Larches were particularly prized as they're our only deciduous conifer, so they add to the riotous blaze of colours in autumn, which attracts painters, photographers and day-trippers. As at Chatsworth, the landscape architects embellished what was there naturally to create a majestic recreational landscape.
The Statutory Plant Health Notice issued by the Forestry Commission is ostensibly to control the spread of Phytophthora ramorum, otherwise known as water mould or Japanese larch blight. They must be challenged to provide evidence in support of this notice to show that the proposed measures, i.e. the removal of all larches at Wyming Brook:
(a) Are proportionate, necessary and appropriate.
(b) will be effective in halting the spread of the disease.
They will not be able to do so. The notice says they consider the disease “to be at imminent danger of spreading in Great Britain”. This has already happened: it has been found from Cornwall in the southwest right the way up to northern Scotland. Their policy of ‘sanitation felling’ has been a failure. They concede elsewhere that the disease will never be eradicated. Thus the felling of millions of larch trees across the country has been largely pointless, except for providing the market with timber. This has been quietly catastrophic for the landscape, biodiversity and carbon footprint of the British Isles. The FC also tar all larch trees with the same brush: it is Japanese larch that is known to be susceptible to the disease, yet the larch at Wyming Brook are all European larch. This is a different species, Larix decidua rather than Larix kaempferi. Plant pathogens tend to be highly specific with respect to their host, and the current science is uncertain on the susceptibility of European larch to this disease. To cut down all of the larch trees at Wyming Brook without even knowing if they’re much at risk is reckless and short-sighted.
Disease happens, and trees live with it. As Oliver Rackham says, they "have definite damage-limitation programmes which wall off rot and confine it to parts of the wood where it will not matter". So it could be the case that European Larch shows high resistance; indeed, there is very little P.ramorum on site. This brings us to our next point.
Regrettably, the operation has been missold to the public, and perhaps to the Council too. The work is being organised by the managers of the site, Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust. Their website headlines it as “Major Works at Wyming Brook to remove diseased trees”. This is not true: less than 1% of the larch trees have tested positive for the disease. So the operation is actually major works to remove healthy trees, along with a few diseased ones. This deception, along with further misinformation originating from the FC, must have been a key reason why there has heretofore been no resistance to this ruinous operation, as the Reserve is treasured by so many. And there has been no informed debate or democratic involvement about this retrograde step, this one-way ticket: what we have now will never come back.
The revelation that the vast majority of the larch trees are healthy suggests that a cultural rather than silvicultural approach to disease control would be more appropriate on this site. Diseased trees should be managed on an individual basis, using fungicide or felling rather than exterminating the whole population.
To challenge the SPHN would be unusual, we admit. It would place Sheffield City Council as the leading council in the country fighting to protect its natural treasures from the greedy hands and thoughtless actions of the Government via DEFRA and the Forestry Commission. We believe this is a fight worth having, that can be won, and we would back you wholeheartedly in it. Discussions with your managers, the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, have confirmed they too would be willing to join in that challenge, and they have some of the expertise to do so. An interesting parallel can be drawn from the Street Trees campaign. As the Lowcock Inquiry reported, “a judicial review in the High Court in 2016 found that the Council was not acting unlawfully by refusing to stop the tree replacement programme”, but this was nevertheless not “the right thing to do”. In the case of Wyming Brook, the SPHN is a legal directive, but is not the right thing to do. Lessons have been learned from the street trees debacle, and the attitude of the Council towards the value of trees has come a long way. It is time to demonstrate that Damascene conversion by being proactive in the protection of our rural trees. The boot is now on the other foot, and if the Council puts up half the fight it made with street trees, this challenge to the government will surely be won. Such a victory would inspire other Councils and Wildlife Trusts to challenge the FC and in so doing, may turn the tide on this needless destruction on a national scale.
There is no middle ground here. You will either be the leader who saved this jewel of nature, or you will end up as the leader who presided over its demise. But there is no time to waste, the destruction is already underway, and you should call a moratorium without further ado.
References to be found on our Facebook page Save Wyming Brook Trees
https://www.facebook.com/groups/337342868811029/permalink/337757368769579?locale=en_GB
6,000
The Issue
Petition to
Tom Hunt (Leader of Sheffield City Council)
We, the undersigned, demand an immediate stop to the felling of trees at Wyming Brook Nature Reserve. As the landowner, you have a duty to protect this very special place, possibly Sheffield’s most celebrated beauty spot and a jewel of nature. The operation to remove over 1,000 larch trees that is currently underway will destroy forever what the people of Sheffield and beyond have come to know and love. There will no longer be a “wooded ravine” but a bare-sided valley in a post-apocalyptic landscape, as has been the case with other larch woodlands in the region, such as the former nature reserve at Redmires.
The project is deeply flawed and wrong-headed, for several reasons. The science is poor and being misused; the process undemocratic and opaque; the public communication is misleading and sensationalist. When we take a closer look at the rationale for taking a wrecking ball to this community and heritage asset, it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
The instruction to fell trees has come from the Forestry Commission. The FC are concerned with timber production from commercial forests. That does not apply here - this is an amenity landscape. The larches in Wyming Brook were planted not for their timber, but for their beauty. In the 1800s the grand ornamental drive was formed, meandering round the steep gradient so walkers can see into the canopies of trees. Larches were particularly prized as they're our only deciduous conifer, so they add to the riotous blaze of colours in autumn, which attracts painters, photographers and day-trippers. As at Chatsworth, the landscape architects embellished what was there naturally to create a majestic recreational landscape.
The Statutory Plant Health Notice issued by the Forestry Commission is ostensibly to control the spread of Phytophthora ramorum, otherwise known as water mould or Japanese larch blight. They must be challenged to provide evidence in support of this notice to show that the proposed measures, i.e. the removal of all larches at Wyming Brook:
(a) Are proportionate, necessary and appropriate.
(b) will be effective in halting the spread of the disease.
They will not be able to do so. The notice says they consider the disease “to be at imminent danger of spreading in Great Britain”. This has already happened: it has been found from Cornwall in the southwest right the way up to northern Scotland. Their policy of ‘sanitation felling’ has been a failure. They concede elsewhere that the disease will never be eradicated. Thus the felling of millions of larch trees across the country has been largely pointless, except for providing the market with timber. This has been quietly catastrophic for the landscape, biodiversity and carbon footprint of the British Isles. The FC also tar all larch trees with the same brush: it is Japanese larch that is known to be susceptible to the disease, yet the larch at Wyming Brook are all European larch. This is a different species, Larix decidua rather than Larix kaempferi. Plant pathogens tend to be highly specific with respect to their host, and the current science is uncertain on the susceptibility of European larch to this disease. To cut down all of the larch trees at Wyming Brook without even knowing if they’re much at risk is reckless and short-sighted.
Disease happens, and trees live with it. As Oliver Rackham says, they "have definite damage-limitation programmes which wall off rot and confine it to parts of the wood where it will not matter". So it could be the case that European Larch shows high resistance; indeed, there is very little P.ramorum on site. This brings us to our next point.
Regrettably, the operation has been missold to the public, and perhaps to the Council too. The work is being organised by the managers of the site, Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust. Their website headlines it as “Major Works at Wyming Brook to remove diseased trees”. This is not true: less than 1% of the larch trees have tested positive for the disease. So the operation is actually major works to remove healthy trees, along with a few diseased ones. This deception, along with further misinformation originating from the FC, must have been a key reason why there has heretofore been no resistance to this ruinous operation, as the Reserve is treasured by so many. And there has been no informed debate or democratic involvement about this retrograde step, this one-way ticket: what we have now will never come back.
The revelation that the vast majority of the larch trees are healthy suggests that a cultural rather than silvicultural approach to disease control would be more appropriate on this site. Diseased trees should be managed on an individual basis, using fungicide or felling rather than exterminating the whole population.
To challenge the SPHN would be unusual, we admit. It would place Sheffield City Council as the leading council in the country fighting to protect its natural treasures from the greedy hands and thoughtless actions of the Government via DEFRA and the Forestry Commission. We believe this is a fight worth having, that can be won, and we would back you wholeheartedly in it. Discussions with your managers, the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, have confirmed they too would be willing to join in that challenge, and they have some of the expertise to do so. An interesting parallel can be drawn from the Street Trees campaign. As the Lowcock Inquiry reported, “a judicial review in the High Court in 2016 found that the Council was not acting unlawfully by refusing to stop the tree replacement programme”, but this was nevertheless not “the right thing to do”. In the case of Wyming Brook, the SPHN is a legal directive, but is not the right thing to do. Lessons have been learned from the street trees debacle, and the attitude of the Council towards the value of trees has come a long way. It is time to demonstrate that Damascene conversion by being proactive in the protection of our rural trees. The boot is now on the other foot, and if the Council puts up half the fight it made with street trees, this challenge to the government will surely be won. Such a victory would inspire other Councils and Wildlife Trusts to challenge the FC and in so doing, may turn the tide on this needless destruction on a national scale.
There is no middle ground here. You will either be the leader who saved this jewel of nature, or you will end up as the leader who presided over its demise. But there is no time to waste, the destruction is already underway, and you should call a moratorium without further ado.
References to be found on our Facebook page Save Wyming Brook Trees
https://www.facebook.com/groups/337342868811029/permalink/337757368769579?locale=en_GB
6,000
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on 18 October 2023