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Proposed Protest Against the Quarry

The trustees of Cambusbarron Community Development Trust, CCDT are aware of the planned protest against the proposed quarrying activity on adjacent land and the strongly held feelings amongst most of the Cambusbarron community.

 

CCDT purchased as much of the woodland as was possible in 2019 to secure the future management of the area for the benefit of the community

 

While CCDT is concerned at the environmental impact of quarrying activity directly on the woodland and the impact on the community, it is of the view that all legal avenues have been exhausted over the last 20 or so years. This is despite the huge effort by the Save Gillies Hill Organisation. As such CCDT will not actively support the proposed protest. CCDT’s role is to support community development through projects, events and the management of the Community Woodland.

 

CCDT is currently in the process of having to remove a large number of  larch trees from its woodland. A routine inspection by Scottish Forestry last summer, 2021 identified the tree disease, P.ramorum at two locations within the woodland.

 

This resulted in a Statutory Plant Health Notice, SPHN, being issued by Scottish Forestry on the 1st November 2021 to CCDT. This notice requires the felling and removal of all larch trees from an area around the affected trees covering some 21.37 hectares in the North West area of the woodland. The purpose is to arrest the continued spread of this disease which has severely affected many woodland across Scotland. The work to remove these trees will be ongoing until the end of March. It is however likely that adjacent landowners within the woodland will be felling and clearing larch trees later in the year under a similar notice.

 

Please note that the larch removal bears no relation to the works to reopen the quarry.

 

Background information on the SPHN and information on the larch removal programme can be found in the CCDT web site :SPHN – Larch Removal – CCDT

CCDT Board of Trustees