Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, is campaigning to protect areas of ancient woodland, following a visit to Bunkers Hill Wood.
Gavin was given a tour of the local site by The Woodland Trust, a charity that works to protect and conserve UK woodland.
During his visit, he learnt about the organisation’s plans for the area and about the work that it is undertaking elsewhere in South Staffordshire.
Current projects include making grant application to Biffa for the removal of Himalayan Balsam at Bunkers Hill and starting a public campaign to highlight the organisation’s serious concerns – relating to the 444 ancient woods that are currently under threat from development across the UK - to the Prime Minister.
Gavin has agreed to support the grant application and to write to the Secretary of State for the Environment, The Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson MP, to help reinforce The Woodland Trust’s concerns over the loss of ancient woodland.
On his visit, Gavin said: I greatly enjoyed my tour of Bunkers Hill Wood and appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the work that The Woodland Trust undertakes in South Staffordshire.
“Many of the trees in sited such as Bunkers Hill Wood are hundreds of years old. Once these areas of ancient woodland are developed, there is no way of getting them back. I applaud all the work that The Woodland Trust does to maintain and protect these sites and will continue to do everything I can to support them in their endeavours.”
Bunkers Hill Wood is hugely popular with local residents and is often used for community events, designed to educate people about the environmental importance of protecting woodlands and biodiversity.
The 102 acre site has only been open to the public since 1996, when it was purchased by The Woodland Trust with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Nationally, the Woodland Trust currently manage over a thousand sites, covering 50,000 acres in total.