Legal proceedings started over felling at Jones Hill Wood
The area is home to the near threatened barbastelle bat
Legal proceedings have begun over the felling at Jones Hill Wood.
On March 30th Natural England granted a license for the felling of 0.7 hectares of land at Jones Hill Wood, as part of the construction works for HS2.
However, they now face a legal challenge for issuing a licence to fell Jones’ Hill Wood and perceived associated regulatory failure.
This legal action is being brought by Mark Keir from The Jones Hill Earth Protectors.
Lisa Foster, Partner of Richard Buxton Solicitors states:
"The real tragedy and block to strong legal protection is a weak regulator. Natural England has the powers to enforce the law and in our view for the reasons set out in the grounds of the claim, they have failed to do so in respect of Jones’ Hill Wood.
"In not doing so they leave the public no choice but to step in and take on the cause through judicial review proceedings. Without legal proceedings this licence decision sets the bar for derogations licences where there are important rare protected species like the barbastelle bat too low and will create a terrible precedent for future actions of HS2 and others.”
Concern has been raised that the felling activity is not in line with the license provided, and the mitigation efforts to support the bats is not suitable.
Dave Slater, Natural England's Director for Wildlife Licensing and Enforcement cases, said:
“We do not comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
However, a blog post on their website**** details the process of providing the license:
"At Jones Hill Wood, we have undertaken a careful assessment of the impacts in this area and requested further hibernation surveys. Our assessment has concluded that the felling of 0.7 hectares of woodland at Jones Hill Wood will not be detrimental to the favourable conservation of the overall bat populations in this area."