A new forest or money for the NHS?

Has the north south divide moved? I thought it was Watford, anything north of there was always treated as 'The North' when I lived in the London area!

Recently read a long amusing piece on Facebook about Birmingham area not being 'North' for the sake of those in the south who didn't know.

However the proposed ‘Northern Forest’ is greenwash, obscuring the government’s destruction of older trees: HS2 will destroy or damage 98 ancient woodlands, while Sherwood Forest is explored for fracking shale gas. With their uncontaminated soils and 400-year-old trees supporting thousands of species, ancient woods are irreplaceable, but it’s still deemed too expensive to, say, bore an HS2 tunnel under the bluebells of South Cubbington wood in Warwickshire.
Actually I was just going to ask that, and I see it has been answered OldMeg, thanks.
So hogwash really.

No HS2 and more trees anyway, please.

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/about-us/how-we-are-run/how-we-are-funded/
You can subscribe regularly, buy trees - or just buy a Lottery ticket! Everything helps.

Surely the planting of trees, preferably deciduous, is good for the environment?

There is sufficient money for both.

The government is making the choices.

So no point complaining about the trees, better to be pleased about them but also keep reminding them about the NHS.

Yes Elegran, my feelings exactly.

Surely it would make more sense to plant a forest in areas where there are fewer green spaces and areas of open country. Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Leeds are among the top ten greenest cities in the UK and few of the northern cities lack “green lungs” of some description within or outside their boundaries that are within reach of the population. I remember my Welsh brother in law visiting us for the first time and commenting, “I didn’t expect there to be so many trees here!” Perhaps the powers that be think the same and that we in the North need introducing to trees !

Nonnie Bristol to The Wash is the north/south dividing line, apparently, according to folks when I moved down south.

My next door neighbour said they had been "up north" to a wedding. I asked where up north and she said "Luton". I had a quiet chuckle to myself.

Some years ago, when we lived near Warwick a friend called to ask me what Newcastle was like because her husband had been offered a job there. She really thought they were both 'north' near each other!

Grey I read that Birmingham is a very green city but everyone I knew when I lived near London thought it was a nasty filthy place. They did think it would be better to put the new Wembley there as it was more accessible but flatly refused to believe it had more miles of canal than Venice or that Symphony Hall had better acoustics that Roayl Albert Hall!

Nonnie, I can’t comment on the merits or demerits of Birmingham because I have never been there, but in terms of green space, according to a satellite survey carried out last year, it is fourth, behind Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bristol.

Greyduster Perhaps the location is intended as an extension and joining-up of the existing woodland to allow thge wildlife and plants, fungi etc to expand into it? There may even be plans to further extend into corridors in and around the places you are thinking of? Or it might be a "This'll appease those dratted northerners" move, of course.

Maybe wolves will be introduced into them.

That would be fun. Imagine how terrified travellers from the deep south would be!

We don’t need wolves to terrify travellers from the South - they think we all still wear woad, throw spears and hang people up by their feet anyway .

Don't know where you live Grey but you have clearly traveled south at some point and met them .

I worked with a German colleague who had previously lived and worked in Birmingham, she wanted to go back, just didn't like the attitude of Londoners.

At this point, I need to add that we spent five very happy years living first in outer London and then in an Essex village and we still have friends (and our god son) who live in the South and we love them all dearly ?! They do tend to keep a whip and a chair handy when we go back to see them, though!

Scurrying back, after that wild diversion, to the subject of the forest project, it might just be me but has anyone looked at the topography of the land between, say, Halifax, Bradford, Leeds and Manchester? Large tracts of wild moorland that don’t support trees of any sort because of the lack of soil and howling winds. There are pockets of fertile resistance, but largely this seems to be the case. If I am wrong, perhaps someone who lives there will let me know. I am genuinely interested. If it is so, it seems that joined up forests and joined up thinking don’t go hand in hand.

Those wild tracts of moorland will have their own eco-system which may well be unique and could be destroyed if they try to introduce alien species.

Doesn't Chris Packham want to re-introduce wolves into Scotland? Well, somewhere north of Bristol to the Wash, anyway.

Apparently a "forest" used to be a hunting ground, "an area of unenclosed countryside, consisting of a highly variable mixture of woodland, heathland, scrub and agricultural land." . So there were forests with few trees but lots of scrub and undergrowth. The New Forest is one which is still partly that kind of forest.

An interesting account here - www.worldwidewords.org/articles/forest.htm

Gillybob, my bed's an Ecofurn one.

"What really makes Ecofurn wooden bed frames extra special is the endorsement received by Tree Aid, a charity focused on supporting some of the poorest villages in rural Africa through forestry-related projects. Alongside other fundraising by Ecofurn, 10% of Ecofurn's profits are donated to the charity who are helping more than 450,000 people. "

I think it's quite funny that May has forgotten the number of trees and woods they are digging up to put HS2 in their place.
Sorry if anyone else has said that while I've not been on GN.

Ancient woodland, as well.

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/our-campaigns/protect-ancient-woodland/

It’s all fine if it benefits the South though Durhamjen. No price is too high, no forest too dense, no wildlife to precious.....

I hadn’t realised that some manufacturers of wooden furniture actually do this. They are to be congratulated.

On a separate note, my DH and I have always said if we won the lottery we would love to buy a wood. Just to leave as it is and enjoy the beauty of trees and wildlife.