The Site The Stroud District and Tewkesbury Borough are proposing a residential development comprising 1900 homes, supported by 15.2ha of open space, sites for a primary school, community centre, shops and services on the old Brockworth Airfield. Brockworth Airfield played a major part in the research, development and manufacture of aircraft between 1915 and 1964. The area for development is approx. 70ha. Our Response The public consultation period for the Draft Development Brief closed on 17th October 2001. Graham Bradley a Planning Casework Officer from the Woodland Trust sent a response to Stroud District Council, extracts of which you can find in the following article. Veteran Trees The site under consideration for development contains ten ancient oaks and several more old and ancient trees are found in the hedgerows. The Stroud District and Tewkesbury Borough have emphasised that they wish for native trees and shrubs to be used in the development’s public spaces. Graham went further in his reply to the Brief, suggesting that the new trees should be of the same species as the veteran trees and ideally be grown from the seed of the ancient trees on the site. He also proposed that any new trees should be planted “in such a way to ensure that they will become open grown parkland trees of the future”. It is highly likely that the ancient trees on the site are many hundreds of years old and the establishment of their exact ages could help to emphasise their historical importance and highlight the need to protect them extremely carefully. UK Red Data List  Immediately
to the east of the site are a large number of very ancient trees. One
of these is host to a bracket fungus, Piptoporus quercinus, which is
on the UK Red Data List and is registered under Schedule 8 of the
Wildlife and Countryside Act.Graham urged the authorities to advise the developers that they have a legal obligation “to undertake a detailed survey of trees using competent persons to identify species of European importance”. Graham wrote, "it is highly likely that the ancient trees on the development are extremely important for their saproxylic species in particular. Such surveys may need to be carried out over several years to ensure that as much information as possible is collected and will be required during suitable weather conditions to ensure maximum opportunity to establish the presence of species." The future of the Ancient Trees at Brockworth It is also important to encourage future generations of ancient trees in this area. Graham stated, “Many of the specialist species associated with ancient trees have extremely limited capacities for dispersal and require suitable host trees nearby to move on to as their host tree declines or dies … it is essential to consider continuity of the habitat into the future.” Public Safety Although old and ancient trees are attractive features they can become unsafe and it is essential that the developers ensure the public are kept away from the trees for their own safety (as well as the health of the tree) so that intervention is not required. What happens next A statement of consultation and responses to Draft Development Brief will be published when the Development Brief is adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance. Come back to this the ATF homepage for updates. Other related websites |