Friends of Latchmore will be pleased to hear that the Forestry Commission announced at a meeting with FoL representatives last week that they have now decided that they will undertake a full Environmental Impact Assessment for the Latchmore project, whether or not the NPA decide to insist on this as a legal requirement for the planning application. This will cover the whole of the catchment area, will be carried out to accepted standards of best practice, and will compare all options to that of doing nothing. FoL and other stakeholders will be invited to comment on the process at key points, notably when preferred options are emerging. All data will be made available by the time the planning application is submitted. The whole process is expected to take about one year, and a provisional target date for submission of the application is December 2014. Further details will be posted on this website soon.

 

John Shepherd (for the Friends of Latchmore)