From little acorns big trees grow - except at Sandwell Valley.

At the end of Swan Pool nearest the boat house there used to be 50 or so 100 year old poplars and sundry other old and (some of them) enormous other kinds of tree. That was until 2008 when Sandwell had them cut down for reasons documented elsewhere in this blog.

Some of the affected trees have defiantly started growing again but, sadly, about 1/3 of the poplars are dead.

Well, last Friday, when in that same vicinity, I heard the sound of chainsaws!

Upon checking, I found a crew of Acorn chaps setting about a willow tree.

I took a quick photo so that I could compare it with the blank space which I fully expected to be the outcome, based on previous Sandwell performance.

Imagine my surprise then when the following day I noticed that the willow was still there, allbeit in much reduced form - decimated is, for once, probably correctly used in this context.

But there was something different which I didn't immediately spot.

And that 'something' was the whole of 2 trees on the other side of the little path. They had just gone - literally rased to the ground. You can see that the tree on the extreme left in the first photo just isn't there in the second.

A crying shame.

These trees were old; out of the way; no trouble to anyone, and were not in the CCTV's line of sight.

Why on Earth do Sandwell pursue such utterly needless destruction?

Why has Sandwell destroyed, and continues to destroy, so much that is good?

Why does Sandwell pay subcontractors to carry out unnecessary work at a time when it should be conserving its resources?

Why does Sandwell exist at all?

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A bit more 're-profiling' at Sandwell

Take a look at the first photo and note the dense hawthorn hedge along the pathway.
This hedge has been trimmed and nurtured for a good 20 years - probably much longer.
Fortunately I had this photo in my archives because without any notice, and by this I mean without the self-congratulatory notices that Sandwell sometimes put up, the hawthorn started to disappear.

Not only that, but also a good number of the trees behind it, and all of the hedge behind those.

The result is the second photo.

No Hedges. Far fewer trees. And another of those plaited fences which Sandwell seem to have a fetish about.

This 're-profiling' started just before a dog show took place close by and as I was walking past, what were then, piles of freshly hewn timber, a lady, who was exhibiting her pooch at the show, arrested me and demanded to know why the trees were being cut down. I said 'Well, it's Sandwell here. That's what they do.'

'But,' she said,' they were cutting down trees last year when we were here.'

'That's right,' I reassured her. 'That's what Sandwell do. It's something they are very good at and they have got a Green Flag for it. Sandwell have cut down hundreds of mature trees in the last few years and, if you include saplings, the number would run into thousands.'

She didn't seem to be very reassured and started telling me that she came from some forest or other where they are planting trees. So I told her that we don't do that sort of thing here. Here, Sandwell already have some forests, they don't need to plant any, so they cut them down instead. It finds something for the rangers to do, and for the green management to manage. It also provides something for the subcontractors to do, and for the Community Pay Back people hack around, and for the Monday volunteers who 'engage' with Sandwell (I think that is the Green Flag requirement) and chop a few smallish trees and hedges down in between coffee breaks.

Somehow, I don't think she'll be back!

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Forge Mill Lake II

Well. It didn't take long.

A couple of days, in fact, was all it took to 're-profile' the north island.

A case of now you see it - now you don't.

What a terrible waste of nature. 25 years in the growing thrown away in 2 days at the whim of Sandwell and the Environment Agency.

And all for some ridiculouly claimed benefit for birds which, I guess, most of Sandwell Council wouldn't recognise if they fell over them.

I say 'claimed' because it just has to be a nonsense. How, one asks oneself, did ground nesting birds, such as lapwings, possibly manage this last umpteen hundred years without Sandwell and the Environment Agency 're-profiling' islands for them?

The answer is 'perfectly well, thank you.'

So who do Sandwell and the Environment Agency think they are kidding?

Well us, appparently. They are certainly no fools themselves. In fact, I think that this is all part of a grand job creation scheme which Sandwell have slipped in over the last 6 or 7 years at Sandwell Valley.

I don't know how Sandwell square this, with their announcement this week that another 1,000 jobs have got to go because they can't afford them.

Maybe Unison, well known for its commitment to lapwings, understands, and can explain in ways which the ordinary man can understand.

And another thing.

The Environment Agency.

Is it somehow related to Sandwell? Or are they just bedfellows of kindred spirit?

I must research this because I am pretty sure that the Environment Agency was implicated in the farcical additional run-off at Sandwell (see my post 14th December, 2009). I didn't photograph the notice that was displayed at that time so I can't prove it. If I am wrong, I apologise in advance - but I think I'm right!

If I am right, then the run-off and the 're-profiled' island would seem to indicate a penchant of Sandwell and the Environment Agency for spending money unnecessarily on daft and environmentally damaging projects.

Come on Mr Cameron, let's see what you're made of.

Why don't you scrap Sandwell and the Environment Agency and see if anybody notices?