Guess what I've just discovered......

[Mike007]

Mike, a good post and valid questions. Downland arrived because of a suitability and usage, and to attempt to change it in to forestry land is wrong. Downland which was , and presumably still is, heavily grazed by sheep, though appearing to be near desert like, supports plant and animal life which will be peculiar to that specific and though of small size, individual eco-system. The plant and invertebrate life which is found on Downland is the start of all specific and reliant creatures and the start of a specific food chain, peculiar to such land, and shouldn't be interfered with.

I was born at Dorking and grew up at Hedley, an area of chalk based soil, which as you say has an extremely thin top soil. The only trees which seem to make any attempt at survival seem to be Beech, but even then, as the soil is so shallow, root structure is flimsy, at best, and we only have to look at the damage caused by the '87 gale to see that mature trees stand very little chance of survival.

We seem to have a prevailing culture which invades our everyday lives, where we have those behind the scenes who work towards an agenda which is silent and insidious. These people can be found in Whitehall and Brussels, just as easily as they can in our 'County Wildlife Trusts'. These people affect our food production just as they do our education system and those aspects of our rural lives, which go far beyond your previously mentioned complaint.

There seems to be a subcutaneous section of our world which works towards directing their own agendas, and by stealth, all the while assuring us that they are self appointed experts. Government, with no real interest in our countryside anyway, hands over the policy making to these idiots.

There are too many who forget that our immediate environment evolved as it did, and for good reason, and put quite simply, it was because it worked. I suspect that such decision makers, being answerable to no one, are becoming our modern day rural vandals.

I feel strongly about the matter, as you may have worked out!!

Alec.

ETS, Might I suggest that should anyone else feel strongly about such matters, that they Google the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England. CPRE for short and you will find like minded people! a.

Didnt realise you were a local Alec ,thought you were Norfolk born and bred. The farm we are loosing is Langley vale farm,sir Stanley Wooton s old place. I note that the schooling hurdles have now been moved from their original time honoured location at the foot of six mile hill ,so presumably the trainers have now lost the use of this land too!We will ultimately loose all the traditional views (or maybe not because all the trees will get blown down.