Hands off Oaken Wood!

Press release from Kent Green Party below. Please let Gallagher's know what you think of their plans (link here)

Greens in the Maidstone and Tonbridge and Malling areas are backing the campaign to save Oaken Woods from quarrying by Gallaghers. Expressing deep concerns about the wisdom and need for quarrying in Kent, they have stated that Gallaghers need to put the needs of environment before profit and that ancient woodland must be protected. They have further stated that there no need for further road building in Kent and that there are good alternatives for building materials. Maidstone Greens have expressed their concerns to the company directly.

Stuart Jeffery of Maidstone Green Party: "Gallagher mainly supplies aggregate for road building and stone for house building. While we recognise the need for more social and affordable housing in Maidstone, there is no need for further expansion of our road network, especially when it involves destroying 74 acres of ancient woodland.

"Kentish ragstone may be an attractive building material to use but it is not a practical one. At a time when we should be reducing our carbon footprint, we should be building houses using materials with very high insulation values. We need to be investing in zero carbon alternatives with high insulation values is we are to have a new housing stock for the future.

"Destroying ancient woodland for the sake of building roads is simply shortsighted and greedy. Any promised replacement woodland will not be adequate for the loss of diversity that the area currently has."

Stop Gallaghers destroying 74 acres of ancient woodland in Maidstone

Gallaghers are applying for permission to open a 74 acre quarry on the site of Oaken Wood, an ancient woodland with a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Wilflife Site in it. Gallaghers say that they will refill the quarry and plan new woodland on top once they have removed milllions of tonnes of stone for road and housebuilding.

This is simply crazy. There are much better alternatives to the use of Kentish Rag Stone to build houses with. While Rag Stone looks pretty, the impact on the enviroment and the fact that this resource is not renewable makes this exercise a pointless waste of time that will simply increase the profits for the company. Let's use carbon negative building materials such as hemp blocks for new houses.

And as for destroying an ancient woodland so that there can be aggregate to build more roads with...

A facebook page has started and I urge people to join it.