Planners ignoring new curbs on destroying ancient woodland says Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust has claimed that the destruction of ancient woodland for development has continued largely unabated despite changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in July last year which stated that development should be refused unless there are ‘wholly exceptional’ circumstances, such as large infrastructure projects.

The trust’s Senior Conservation Advisor Richard Barnes said that despite the change in the NPPF guidance, there had only been a 25% drop in planning permissions involving the removal of ancient woodland or veteran trees to date and that there are currently more than 400 planning applications in progress that threatened ancient woods and trees. These include housing and highways projects, an extension to a hotel and spa, a tea room, a dairy farm (where ammonia pollution will affect ancient woodland), a caravan park, car parks and an extension to a zoo.

“Sadly, this new policy has not had an instant impact,” he said. “Applications that will damage or destroy these irreplaceable habitats are still rolling in.”

The Woodland Trust has posted a copy of the revised planners’ manual to every head of planning in England and offered to meet them to discuss strengthening their policies.