Fighting for their trees

By Tess McDermott

RESIDENTS devastated by the loss of a glade of trees have criticised the charity which sold the land to a developer.

Trees and scrubland at the corner of Hornbeam Road and Chestnut Avenue, Buckhurst Hill, were felled without warning last month after developer Steve McLaren bought the land from the Charles S French Charitable Trust.

Shocked residents have banded together to form the Roding Valley Green Residents Committee and fight any potential plans for development.

At a public meeting last Thursday committee chairman Lawrie Kubiak said: "If we can investigate and find anything expected or unexpected that can help us get our green back and stop Mr McLaren then it's worth it."

Resident Ron Rodwell said: "The Charles French Trust was set up to help local people. It gives money to local charities. I understand it may have to sell the land for some reason but surely there's an ethical aspect. It's about time we asked the people running the trust now if they are behaving in the way in which they believe their founder would have wanted.

"We need to find out what other land it owns in the area and make sure its safe from this kind of development."

The land is believed to have been sold to Mr McLaren for somewhere in the region of £200,000 to £500,000. The committee estimated that building a block of flats on the site could net him potential profits of over £1m.

District and parish councillor Malcolm Woollard said: "This issue is bigger than just this patch of land. There's too much of this snaffling of little sites for development and what they produce on them isn't really worth anything to Buckhurst Hill.

"They're there for the sole purpose of making money for the builder and in most of them there isn't room to swing a cat. We don't want another monstrosity like that thing up the road the Atrium."

The district council has issued tree preservation orders for trees remaining on the site, bordering St Elisabeth's Church, to prevent any further work until the matter can be reviewed through the correct planning channels.

Mr Woollard said police had been notified of disturbance and destruction of wildlife, after reports that a squirrel was sawn in half and nesting birds and fox dens disturbed.

Another meeting is planned within the next three weeks to update residents on the results of these efforts.

10:36am Monday 12th June 2006

Taken from the Epping Forest Guardian.

The webmaster thanks the Epping Forest Guardian for their kind permission to publish this report.

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