It seems that the construction of the HS2 rail project is getting underway properly this year, with large areas near the crossings of the canal being cleared and preparations for the construction stage being made. It is a major undertaking and will affect several canals and make a large impact, at least in the construction stage.
There is a a stretch of woodland close by Kings Bromley Marina that is to have part of the route through it, so I decided to look more closely into what is happening in this specific section of the route.
Ravenshaw Wood, The Slaish and Black Slough Woods are called Ancient woodlands. The definition of these are, that in England and Wales, they are woods that have existed before or since 1600. (In Scotland 1750). 1600 is not entirely arbitrary as it is thought that before this time woodlands were not planted so they are likely to be natural. Ancient woodlands also has two types.sub types, Ancient semi natural, which is composed of native trees that have not obviously been planted and may have some characteristics of ancient woodland.
Looking through old newspapers I have found that in 1808 there was an auction of oak saplings from 12 acres of Ravenshaw Wood and again in 1906 there was another auction of 430 mature oak trees already felled. It is obvious that the wood was managed. There are many reports in the mid 1800's of Ravenshaw, Black Slough and Slaish Woods being used for fox hunting with much sport being had. Ravenshaw Wood was well known as a challenging and fast ride. The main hunt was the Meynel Hounds These were funded by Hugo Francis Meynel-Ingram. He became the MP for West Staffordshire in 1868 and inherited Temple Newsam from his father the following year.
A painting of Hugo Meynel-Ingram by Francis Grant that hangs in Temple Newsam, Leeds. It shows him as a hunting man.
In 1927 Ravenshaw, Slaish and Black Slough Woods were up for sale. The 117 acres were bought by Sir Villiers Forster, Bart. of Lysway Hall, Longdon, nr. Rugeley, who was the joint Master of the South Staffordshire Hunt, with Major Anson. He paid £1755 for it. In today's prices that would be about £113,000. He also paid £290 for 17 acres of Hanch Wood nearby. This secured the woods for continuing hunting with hounds.
This OS Map of 1881 shows the location of the woods to the south of the Trent and Mersey Canal almost down to the bend at Woodend Lock. I have been unable to find out anything about the mound shown on the map called King's Standing. It could be either an iron age barrow (although I'm not sure there are any examples around her) or possibly a Norman motte and bailey fortification. Any information would be gratefully received.
In 1993 there were plans for 120 houses to be built in the forest as part of a larger settlement of 800 houses. The local council's through it out, but it had to be revisited as proper procedures hadn't been followed. It was thrown out a second time.
This is the latest plan of the building of the HS2 line through the area. In the top right hand corner of the plan is what I take to be the main route from Birmingham to the north. The section that runs through Ravenshaw Wood is a spur that will connect to the West Coast Mainline near Handsacre. This has been designed to spread the economic benefits and there will be an integrated station at Stafford. It is quite hard to see the map features below the plan but the northern boundary of the woods (coloured sections) is the canal.
The route of the branch through the wood is clearly defined and does not seem to large an area. However the red lines enclose the area that potentially be required for the construction phase. This is a much wider area acreage. I would assume that if they do use this area it would have to be restored to some state to similar to how it was found. I would expect that HS2 would want to limit this as much as possible in their own interests. The red area marks the site of the woodland that will be lost, 1.7 hectares (4.2 acres). The affected woodlands are described as mixed lowland deciduous woodland and an habitat of principal importance., part of it included on the Ancient Woodland Inventory, some as semi natural and some as plantation on Ancient woodland. The remainder is secondary woodland and heath or scrub. The main trees are pendunculate oak, downy birch and some rhododendron. You can tell the difference between a pendunculate oak and a sessile oak as the former's leave have almost no stalk, but the acorns do. It is the opposite in the sessile oak! The under laying vegetation is formed largely of bracken, buckler fern and bramble and there are areas to the NW that are waterlogged too. The woods are considered to be of County and Metropolitan level of importance.
Of the 1.7 hectares of the wood that is to be irretrievably lost 0.7 hectares are ancient replanted woods and 1 hectare semi natural wood land. Obvious cutting right through the wood will have consequences as one section will be cut of from the other and there will be more 'edge' development that will alter the characteristics of the remaining woods. The lighter green areas on the map are the Ancient woodlands and the dark green the non Ancient part of the woods.
HS2 are trying to mitigate the full loss of the red section by taking up the soil from that area and transporting it to nearby sites. Although most trees will be lost some, such as coppiced stools etc, could be transplanted too. I assume the hope is that the seed bank, fertility etc of that soil will mean that over time the habitat can be recreated in the new location. It has to be said that there seems to be much skepticism that this will work, I don't think that any long term research has been carried out on this subject. I suppose it is better than nothing though. The areas where the soil is to be moved to at Ravenshaw is marked on the plan above as the plain brown areas.
This is the diagram used to explain the process on the HS2 site. As it shows, there will be ongoing oversight of these new woodlands for up to twenty years. I expect that locals, environmentalists and research groups will be all over these places to ensure that what is planned is carried out.
The is also a commitment to plant more trees than are lost. In the case here 1.7 hectares are to be lost and they are planting 2.7 hectares. These are indicated on the plan by the hatched areas of the brown acreage. The replanting is explained above. There is an ongoing commitment to these new plantings too as can be seen in the diagram below.
On much of the route there is to be many trees planted for landscaping screening purposes. Here at Ravenshaw they were to be planted to the north of the alignment. However at the request of the landowner these are being omitted so the land can remain in agriculture.
This is just one site and I understand there 107 Ancient Woodland sites that will be affected. There will be a vast scar on the landscape as the lines are being built, but they will fade over time. I lived in Birmingham when they were building Spaghetti Junction and it looked like the Somme for a long time. Maybe not a good analogy with it all being industrial/urban, but you get my drift. In their time the routes of canals, railways and motorways have been hotly contested by people living on the route, and others. I know some people think that HS2 is not needed and won't add anything to the public transport offering. I have some sympathy with this as being a Northerner the East - West links across the Pennine's are not electrified and really need updating. Funds for this seem to have released recently though.
My thoughts, for what they are worth, are that the arguments have been made and the Parliamentary Bill has been passed. It is going ahead. The work has started. It seems that from the original route given in 2013 much has been achieved in preventing loss and damage with the new routes etc. I can't seem to find any figures as to what percentage of the overall cost of the project in taken up with mitigating environmental damage, but it must add an awful lot to the total. Much like Brexit we have to get on with it now, but ensure that we hold Government to account to ensure that they carryout promises made. And ensure they ensure that the price does not sky rocket. (Or, God forbid, cancel the project in the future).
Hopefully, what ever side you are on this may help with your understanding of it on just one small woodland along the route.
1 comment:
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