Over the
last 30 years, the National Trust has consistently
opposed the growth of Stansted Airport – situated just a
few miles from Hatfield Forest – from becoming London’s
third airport. The pollution associated with the aircraft
and traffic generated is damaging the 850 veteran
pollarded trees (some over 600 years old) and the
associated wildlife which is to be found in only a
handful of sites across England. While many people
perceive The National Trust as an organisation which owns
and opens stately homes to the public it was only during
the latter half of the 20th century that the Trust became
significantly involved in large houses. Since its
creation in 1895, the National Trust was in fact an
organisation set up to provide green spaces for the urban
population to get clean air and exercise. The founders
campaigned against the urban slum conditions of England,
Wales & Northern Ireland by providing a Trust to
accept gifts of land and property for ‘the benefit of the
nation’. During the 1960s, in response to threats to the
coast, the National Trust set up Operation Neptune to
raise money to acquire 900 miles of unspoilt coastline
across the country. This campaign has been the Trust’s
single most successful campaign, raising over £40m and
acquiring over 750 miles of coast.And today the Trust
carries on this tradition of fighting for heritage under
threat. Hatfield Forest was acquired by the National
Trust in 1924. This has safeguarded, in perpetuity, the
424 ha of woodland and grassland which has been
consistently managed as a Forest since the time of the
Norman Conquest. As the author Oliver Rackham describes
in his book Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape
(1976).
“Hatfield
Forest is of supreme interest in that all the elements of
a medieval Forest survive: deer, cattle, coppice woods,
pollards, scrub, timber trees, and grassland, plus a
seventeenth-century lodge and rabbit warren. As such it
is almost certainly unique in England and possibly in the
world. Hatfield Forest is the only place where one can
step back into the Middle Ages to see, with only a small
effort of the imagination, what a Forest looked like in
use.”
Over 200,000 people a year now use the Forest as an area for quiet outdoor recreation in the increasingly urbanised south east of England. However, there is a threat to this idyllic area of wildlife. The Trust is also concerned that the current plans to increase use from 25 million passengers per annum to 35 million will result in the frequency of intrusive aircraft noise increasing and that the relatively tranquil periods between flights will decrease to the point where the Forest could become unattractive to visitors. The Trust has put considerable resources behind its objection. In addition to our own staff, we have engaged a barrister and two consultants on noise and air quality, to offer expert witnesses on air noise and air pollution at the public inquiry into the proposed expansion to Stansted Airport, taking place until October 2007. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the end. British Airports Authority intends to submit another application later this summer to build a second runway which would take passenger levels to 68 million and beyond. This would be a total disaster both for the Forest and for Britain’s CO2 targets to combat climate change.
Over 200,000 people a year now use the Forest as an area for quiet outdoor recreation in the increasingly urbanised south east of England. However, there is a threat to this idyllic area of wildlife. The Trust is also concerned that the current plans to increase use from 25 million passengers per annum to 35 million will result in the frequency of intrusive aircraft noise increasing and that the relatively tranquil periods between flights will decrease to the point where the Forest could become unattractive to visitors. The Trust has put considerable resources behind its objection. In addition to our own staff, we have engaged a barrister and two consultants on noise and air quality, to offer expert witnesses on air noise and air pollution at the public inquiry into the proposed expansion to Stansted Airport, taking place until October 2007. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the end. British Airports Authority intends to submit another application later this summer to build a second runway which would take passenger levels to 68 million and beyond. This would be a total disaster both for the Forest and for Britain’s CO2 targets to combat climate change.
• writing to the Planning Inspectorate in support of the Trust’s opposition
• writing to the Secretary of State to oppose the expansion
• write to your local newspaper
• add your name to the online petition at http://tinyurl.com/ynk2o4
• join the National Trust
• make a donation to the National Trust to help the campaign
