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To: East Lothian Council, Woodland Trust, Iain Gray MSP, Historic Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage,

Save Cotgreen Woodland from developers

Stop development of any kind on Cotgreen Woodland in North Berwick. Protect our ancient woodlands.

Why is this important?

Woodlands in North Berwick are being torn down by developers. Trees even with TPO's are cut down all the time with no consequences. It is time to stop trees being cut down especially with a climate emergency. Cotgreen woodland is an ancient woodland and is home to bats, deer, birds, badges, insects, plants, trees and small animals and has a unique biodiversity. It is a quiet secluded woodland where birds and animals are safe and are thriving on the outskirts of our small Scottish town.

In November 2019 the woodland was given Ancient Woodland status by Scottish Natural Heritage now referred to as Nature Scot as it was proven that there had been uninterrupted open woodland on the site since prior to 1750. This untouched unique space is one of a tiny number left in Scotland.

The Woodland Trust has registered 274 ancient woodlands which are under threat in Scotland & Cotgreen is one of them. Only 1% of Scotland is ancient woodland and any destruction would be devastating.

A developer has purchased the woodland and has publicly stated that it is their intention to fence off and then build on the site. As with other developers in the area they are aware of the process to obtain change of use, this has happened many times in East Lothian. Fencing off the area is the first step, then they apply for change of use to a garden and then apply for housing. The current planning process allows this as alarmingly ancient woodland is not the highest level of protection under the planning system. It also takes no account of past behaviour by a developer and is designed to make objections very difficult. The planning process must be changed.

The Scottish government has agreed that ancient woodlands must be protected by full legal legislation prior to COP26 in Glasgow this October. An agreement is being sent to all local authorities to protect ancient woodlands but it might be too late to save Cotgreen.

We would like your support so please sign the petition and share so others can sign. When we got over 1000 signatures, we were contacted by the local press which helped to get more public awareness of this issue.

If you can spare 10 minutes to write an email to object to the current planning application (East Lothian Council Planning application 21/00295/P) then we would appreciate it as well. If you would like more information to make the process easier then please get in touch.

The deadline for your response is 4pm 31st March 2021.

Thank you for your help.
North Berwick, UK

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Category

Updates

2021-03-15 10:37:35 +0000

We need to stop the developer at each stage and make this as hard as possible while hopefully governments put in legislation to block this kind of development.
We would like your support - please ask others to sign the petition. When we got over 1000 signatures we were contacted by local press which helped.
If you can spare 10 minutes to write an email to object to this planning application (East Lothian Council Planning application 21/00295/P) then we would appreciate it as well. If you would like more information to make the process easier then please get in touch.
Thank you for your help.

2021-03-15 10:37:10 +0000

A quick update on the Ancient woodland at Cotgreen North Berwick. 5 months ago, we highlighted that the developer had placed an application to remove 3 protected trees, fence off the entire woodland (which would have disturbed the bats, animals, insects and bio diversity of the ancient site). The good news was the application was withdrawn due to mass objections. The bad news is a second application to fence off the ancient woodland has been placed. The developer must do this as their publicly stated plans for the site are to fence it off and then apply to build on the site and destroy the ancient woodland.
The new application states that they will not cut down the 3 trees (for now) so that is good news. However, the bio diversity of the woodland, its unique uninterrupted status since 1750 will still be impacted by fencing, building driveways etc. It is also the next step on the route to building on the site.

2020-10-05 13:35:30 +0100

1,000 signatures reached

2020-10-02 14:12:36 +0100

The Woodland Trust has registered 274 ancient woodlands under threat in Scotland & Cotgreen is one of them Only 1% of Scotland is ancient woodland and any destruction would be devastating
The Scottish government has agreed that ancient woodlands must be protected An agreement is being sent to all local authorities to protect ancient woodlands but it might be too late to save Cotgreen A new planning application has been registered We have until the 9th Oct to object. This will see 3 TPO'ed trees cut down Bats will be disturbed They also plan to fence off the entire ancient woodland which is a precursor to applying to build houses on the woodland. Even the act of building the fence will put trees in danger
Thank you for signing the petition but we would like you to object to the planning application. If you can spare 10 minutes to write an email then we would appreciate it I can give you more information to make the process easy Please get in touch if you can help Thanks

2019-08-15 18:35:48 +0100

500 signatures reached

2019-06-22 07:02:20 +0100

100 signatures reached

2019-06-21 18:49:51 +0100

50 signatures reached

2019-06-21 17:02:41 +0100

25 signatures reached

2019-06-21 16:05:30 +0100

10 signatures reached