Campaign to save Bristol woods calls on council
More than 4,000 people have signed the petition which calls on the city council to compulsorily purchase 14-acre Grove Wood which is next to the River Frome in Stapleton.
Lead petitioner Andy Hiscox said: "In just three months over 4,000 people have signed the online and paper petition.
"This is just a snapshot of the level of support there is for this campaign and will send a strong signal to Bristol's councillors to take the protection of this special place very seriously."
Snuff Mills Action Group members, community leaders and local people will be making statements to the council meeting in support of the petition.
Former chairman of leisure at Bristol City Council, Alderman Paul Smith, will make a statement severely criticising the lack of involvement by councillors in recent decisions about Grove Wood.
Landowner Houshang Jafari bought the wood for £39,000 at an auction last year and has sincecarried out a number of works including felling a row of 27 trees.
Mr Smith said: "I am astonished that decisions concerning the trees in Grove Wood have constantly been made by junior officers deliberately bypassing councillors, especially when the application to fell a line of 27 trees next to Blackberry Hill received nearly 120 individual objections.
"When I was on the council controversial issues such as Grove Wood would always have been considered by councillors."
Chairman of Snuff Mills Action Group, Steve Micklewright, was due to make a statement about the value of Grove Wood to people.
He said: "The fact that we have over 4,000 signatories to the petition clearly demonstrates that Grove Wood is valued by people from all over Bristol.
"Indeed the council recognise its value through all of the official designations that apply to Grove Wood.
"It is registered as a historic landscape, a site of nature conservation importance, ancient woodland and is even regarded as open space land.
"These designations and all of the support there is for the campaign will surely convince councillors that Grove Wood should be in safe public ownership."
A local wildlife expert will talk to councillors about the value of the woods for wildlife such as bats, owls and otters. Residents who live close to Grove Wood will talk about how their quality of life has been spoilt by the tree-felling, setting of fires and strimming of vegetation that has started to ruin the character of a once peaceful wildlife haven.
Grove Wood is in the Frome Valley opposite Snuff Mills park and is in the Stapleton Conservation Area.
It was in public ownership until 2000, when it was sold by the hospital authority at auction.
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