Reports on the hydrological surveys carried out by JBA Consulting (see below) are now available. Some of our comments are listed in our report (item 10, and the Additional Notes) on the meeting with Natural England; others will be discussed in due course.
The link for the survey of Latchmore is
and for Lay Gutter Valley,
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17726060/EcoHAA_S_Lay%20Gutter%20Valley_FINAL.pdf
On 28 May, Friends of Latchmore had an interesting and positive meeting with representatives from Natural England and JBA Consulting (who had been commissioned by NE to carry out a hydrological survey for Latchmore Brook). To read NE’s report on the meeting, click here; and for FoL’s report, with a few additional notes on the hydrological modelling (also commissioned by NE and currently in preparation), click here.
All tickets for the Latchmore Supper on 3 May are now sold, but donations of prizes for the raffle would be much appreciated. If you would like to support us, please email friends.latchmore@gmail.com for details of where to deliver/send your gift.
In response to comments on the Latchmore Brook Restoration in the New Forest Association’s Spring 2013 Newsletter, Ailsa Farrand has sent a letter to Peter Roberts, Chairman of the NFA.
To read the article by Brian Tarnoff (on page 13), click here.
We have received a letter from Mike Seddon dated 26 March and look forward to the opportunity to discuss the environmental and practical aspects of the future planning application with him in May.
A Latchmore Supper will be held on Friday 3 May at Hyde Memorial Hall. Tickets available now.
On 2 March we wrote to the Chairman of the NFCDA concerning an article in the Annual Report & Statement of Accounts 2012 which seriously misrepresents our position. Our objective has always been to ensure that an Environmental Impact Assessment is carried out for Latchmore Brook before any major works are undertaken and we are very disappointed that so far the NFCDA has not supported us in this aim.
On 28 February Mike Seddon replied to a local resident’s request for more information on how the Forestry Commission dealt with the issues internally.
We have received a reply from Mike Seddon dated 15 February to our letter of 5 February (see below) : there are still some unresolved issues and our letter of 2 March sets out our views on them.
A local resident (and a Friend of Latchmore) has been in correspondence with Mike Seddon (4 February, 11 February and 13 February) on the subject of the unlicensed tree-felling; also, on 7 February he requested the Chairman of Hyde Parish Council to discuss the matter at the next Council meeting.
Following the meeting (on 13 February), the Council sent a letter to Mike Seddon on 20 February expressing their disappointment that illegal felling of trees had taken place. We welcome the Parish Council’s support in this matter.