Midgehole Road closed
for extensive tree felling
Monday, January 16, 2006
At least fifty forestry/YEB workers and dozens of vehicles descended on Midgehole Road today, and residents heard the sounds of chainsaws all morning. Midgehole Road is the main access road to Hardcastle Crags.
Alarmed phone calls were made by residents to the Council and the Hebden Bridge Web. Some of the work, especially that down towards the Hebden Water, was necessary because a tree had fallen across one of the YEB power lines.
Extensive felling and pruning by Fountains Forestry took place all day. However, many of the tree felled were apparently healthy ones along the Midgehole Road, deemed "dangerous" by the National Trust.
A forestry licence had been granted and although some residents had been informed, many complained that they had not been told. After residents, complained, Calderdale did send out its Forestry Officer, Keith Grady and he said he was satisfied and that The Forestry Commission instruction superseded any preservation order.
One resident tried to point out the problems of banking erosion and that if trees were removed, this could undermine the hillside and that a large colony of squirrels were in semi-hibernation, nesting in the trees in this area. The Council said squirrels were not a protected species, so this was not an issue!
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