Lakeland Forests being sold off

The Foresty Commission presently own large areas of forestry in South Lakeland, but have been told to sell off 15% of this over the next three years. This could include some areas of special interest to TARS members, especially Machell Coppice where the Dogs Home is. In fact, Riggs Wood has already been sold, and the car park there has been gated off. Minimal access rights are now in place. This includes the remains of an Igloo, and it is, sorry was, also an easy point to launch canoes and small boats to go to Wild Cat Island.

If you are concerned over these moves, look at the savelakelandsforests.org.uk website.  It gives a list of people you could email your concerns to, especially Tim Farron the local M.P.  - tim@timfarron.co.uk who I know is worried about these sales. Unfortunately Riggs Wood has gone from public ownership, but lets stop other land from being sold off!

Finally, if anyone can get there there is a rally at the main Grizedale Centre car park on Sunday 30th January at 1 p.m.

Rob

Thanks Rob - here's a Telegraph article about Rigg Wood that may be of interest.

Hey, if we all club together and raise funds we could......

Arg, no! not again!!

Magnus - I can sympathise with that 'arg!'. However, I think you have hit the nail on the head. The world is changing - what at one time seemed a permanent world of Ransome locations - Dog's Home, Lanehead, Hill Top, The Heald, Bank Ground, Peel Island, you name it - may see great changes sooner or later. All these locations are, or may soon be, in private hands, and the owners may have very different ideas about how to 'develop' the sites. If we want any of these 'sacred' sites preserved as they are, and those which are accessible to remain accessible, we have to start thinking the unthinkable and build up funds. We are a bit late on this, and it could take a long time, but you have to start somewhere. That is more or less why the Arthur Ransome Trust was formed - to set up a permanent charitable organisation which one day might be able to acquire a Ransome site or a site which can be developed as a Ransome Centre. TARS can't do this, as it is a membership organisation, ie it is not permanent - if the membership numbers go below a certain figure, TARS would cease to exist. As presently constituted, it is not a fund-raising body anyway.

This is all for the future, but we have to start planning NOW. In the meantime, Rob Boden is right to send out a warning, and we would do well to follow up the links he has given and express our concern.

Previously Magnus Smith wrote:

Hey, if we all club together and raise funds we could......

Arg, no! not again!!

Well Magnus how much is the wood then?

According to the Telegraph article lined above, they sold 40 acres of Rigg Wood for £116,000, so somewhere in the region of £3,000 an acre.

Previously Lindsay Bartrop-White wrote:

Previously Magnus Smith wrote:

Hey, if we all club together and raise funds we could......

Arg, no! not again!!

Well Magnus how much is the wood then?

Well I agree with a lot of Peter's points, and indeed many specific locations have already changed massively e.g. Lanehead and BGF to a great extent. I suppose Save Lakelands Forests is about trying to ensure that the nature and character of the Lake District remains the same, or at least changes the way we all want rather than one owner wants.

I think ART's plans are great too, though I wonder if a venue in the Lakes is going to help the school in Stalham whom I met at the Boat Show when I was looking after Swallow i.e. I feel there is a further aspect that needs some consideration. I also wonder if the National Trust have a role to play in some of this - they own WCI and two of the Swallowdales (!) for example and may see some merit in owning other specific locations as well as preserving the general nature of things I touched on above and perhaps providing some interpretation - perhaps jointly with TARS.

Beatrix Potter willed vast tracts of land and farms to the National Trust with out her NT holdings lot smaller and in many areas housing development and caravan sites everywhere!

My piggy banks bit empty at present.