Fears houses on protected wood will be 'thin end of the wedge', says MLA

Strangford assemblyman Nick Mathison believes plans to rip up some of Tullynagardy Wood in Newtownards to make way for a suburban housing scheme should be stopped – and he’s also worried that protections all over Northern Ireland are too weak to prevent property developers from felling much-loved trees, arguing the system needs to have more power.

Tullynagardy Wood is home to a host of protected trees, but an application to construct a housing development on more than one-third of the site has been given a thumbs-up by planning officials in Ards and North Down Council, ahead of a final vote on the matter next week.

Mr Mathison says fears are running high that the project will set a precedent, allowing the rest of the wood to be demolished somewhere down the line.

“The developer has been very clear they have no plans for the rest of the site, but that is certainly a concern for residents,” he told the News Letter. “There’s a worry this will only be the thin end of the wedge.”

The Alliance politician adds the wood’s tree protection orders aren’t especially robust – stating that although the provincewide public thinks such orders mean trees are safe from the axe, in practice they’re not much more than a few extra hoops for property developers to jump through.

“A protection order does not mean a tree can never be felled, it just means you have to have good reason to take a tree down,” he said.

“Often, those reasons aren’t too difficult for developers to demonstrate; it can be anything from concerns about the health of trees to a development being impossible without taking them down. And the penalties tree protection orders carry aren’t that serious in the big picture.”

Arguments put forward on behalf of developers WJ Law include that the main area for the development is a clearing inside the wood, repeatedly seeking to draw a division between it and parts of Tullynagardy that have heavier tree coverage.

Meanwhile the council’s enforcement officer concluded that while some trees will be lost to make way for the five-home development, it “is not extensive and new tree planting is proposed” so the project would be acceptable.

Mr Mathison disagrees with those assessments. “These plans go right up against some of Tullynagardy Wood’s very old trees, the idea that construction would not have any impact doesn’t fly,” he said.

“That we would approve development on a site of this kind is simply beyond me. Not only does this fly in the face of the council’s own stated commitments to the local environment, it also seems to me to fall foul of key planning policy on the preservation of open space.

"Two of Northern Ireland’s largest conservation charities submitted detailed, comprehensive objections, along with large numbers of residents and indeed a number of local political parties. These have all been disregarded in this deeply disappointing recommendation from council planners.”

Other politicians to submit formal objections include UUP Health Minister Mike Nesbitt, like Mr Mathison a Strangford MLA, and the area’s DUP MP Jim Shannon.