THE Woodland Trust is delighted to read that Shotley Bridge Cricket Club’s plans to develop houses on its grounds have been rejected (Echo, Mar 3). We opposed the application on account that the proposed development would be on ancient woodland. Over 1,000 hectares of the UK’s irreplaceable ancient woodland has been destroyed in the past decade, and the Woodland Trust has more than 500 ancient woods on record as under threat right now. These precious places have evolved over centuries, even millennia, and include varied habitats for important and rare species of flora and fauna.

The cricket club site was not recorded on Natural England’s Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI), however mapping evidence and several reports within the application suggest that the site is ancient woodland. We have therefore recommended it be added to the AWI.

Every ancient wood is a unique product of its location and its history – the communities of plants and animals that have developed there cannot be moved or recreated in new woods.

These sites are not only rich in wildlife, they may also contain surviving descendants from the original natural forests, valuable soils due to their undisturbed nature, and a wealth of features of historical and archaeological importance little altered by modern cultivation or disturbance. Ancient woods are an integral part of England’s historic landscape and our natural heritage. We cannot allow them to disappear.

Darren Carlaw, Local Media Volunteer, Woodland Trust