Thanks to the intervention of our MP we managed to have a virtual meeting with the Forestry Commission and we are very sorry to have to tell you that we learned that they have issued a felling licence for trees in our beautiful wood.

Despite all the concerns we have raised and the evidence provided by our surveys and that of the Oxford woodland expert, that recommends no more intervention than in the last 30 years, they have given the go-ahead for areas of both felling and clearance.

We appreciate that the Commission has advised reducing the level of felling that was originally planned and we are told that it is now just for a trial, but no clear reasons are given for the proposals and we maintain that any intervention will destroy the habitat of very rare wildlife. The revisions apparently meet Forestry Standards, but we fail to see how felling cannot adversely affect both the biodiversity and community importance of this much loved urban wood.

The Wildlife Trust included us in the original 'Stakeholders' consultation, but we knew nothing of these proposed changes, so we have been given no opportunity to comment on them. Their decision seems to have been based on general advice from people who have never actually seen Piles Coppice. We do not think this wood should be compared with any others, but should be preserved as the unique phenomenon it has become.

We believe that the standards to which they are working were designed for timber production, are very outdated and do not take into account the incredible importance of current issues relating to Climate Change and Extinction and the desperate need to preserve mature trees. Recent evidence also shows the remarkable success story for wildlife in woods allowed to naturalise and spread without intervention.

We were advised of the FC decision in the very same week that it was announced how much woodlands save the NHS in mental health costs.

We are still of the opinion that Piles Coppice has so many benefits for the wildlife that live in it and especially for us, the people who use it to keep us happy and healthy, it should be left exactly as it is.