Letters: Just who is protecting this protected area?

I READ the article written by Anthony Pasmore in New Forest Notes (A&T 1st Nov) with considerable interest, tempered with a feeling of sadness.

Here we have a so-called national park, specifically designated for the proliferation of natural wildlife and animals, supposedly managed judiciously by designated authorities. What do I see? Warring factions… and frankly I am pretty disgusted that these conflicts even exist.

On the one hand we have the bodies who want to restrict human interference, and on the other those that want to introduce and increase their commercial interests. So what happens now? Put simply, the former, and in my view takes absolute priority, that is why the New Forest has its designation as a protected area, protected from what?

Then we have man, always on the lookout for a fast buck, casting his greedy eye over one of the few areas of tranquility left in this neck of the woods (no pun intended). You can almost hear the cogs of greed whirring with the thought, 'what a peaceful area, we are sure we can sell its tranquility to an over stressed population and make a few bob in the process'.

More cycleways, more footpaths, more car parks, more ice cream vans, more of this, more of that, the list is endless. Result? 'Mission creep' and finally ruination. Man will have once again destroyed the very thing it set out to protect.

Do you remember Spain in the ’60s ’70s and ’80s? Pristine Mediterranean coastlines, golden sands, etc, then boom! Greed overran any weak regulation that may have existed, hundreds of skyscraper hotels sprang up almost overnight and what came next? Pollution in all its forms, pollution in the sea, light and sound, behavioural, you name it, all delivered in spades.

Lessons should be learnt but sadly the twinkle of greed in the eye of the beholder will, in time, prevail in the end.

John Walsh

Address supplied

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I READ with interest the Forest Notes article in last week’s edition and its comments on proposed improvements to the New Forest cycling network.

The article incorrectly claimed this was driven by demands to expand cycling and failed to mention the real motivation behind the proposal – to improve the management of cycling in this special landscape.

After years of disagreement and stalemate over this issue, Forestry England together with representatives from the verderers of the New Forest, cycling bodies, local community environmental groups and others have got together to find a shared and workable solution.

The group has spent more than two years looking at the issues, and it is clear from the evidence collected that the current cycle network is simply not fit for purpose. It is disconnected from the main routes into the Forest, hard to follow, and nonsensical in many places.

This results in cyclists getting lost and venturing out onto more ecologically sensitive areas of the Forest, or simply choosing to follow their own routes and online mapping instead.

The proposal sets out improvements in the network that will make management of cycling in the Forest achievable and sustainable. I would encourage anyone interested in this to read the proposals, available on the verderers of the New Forest website.

Craig Harrison

Deputy surveyor, Forestry England

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RE Mr Pasmore’s Forest Notes, I agree him totally over the demand-led assault on the Forest. It is now very rare to find silence and to be able to listen to the birds, the rare tranquil areas are so precious for the wildlife.

Large areas of the Forest will be spoilt for flora and fauna if the new routes for cyclists are made available. Mr Pasmore seems to be the only person in a position of authority to try his best to look after the Forest and save it from becoming a theme park.

He also is the only person to highlight the dreadful damage done by Forestry England in their tree felling and hauling. If this was done by private owners they would be prosecuted, but being a government organisation they just get away with damaging highly protected areas.

Ailsa Farrand

Fordingbridge