Woodsman's uncertain future

Woodsman Adam Bolton is on the verge of giving up award winning work in an Uckfield wood because of damage caused by youngsters and lack of action by the town council to help prevent it.

Mr Bolton is trying to set up his own business based on the traditional craft of coppicing a type of pruning carried out in woodland to encourage vigorous growth of new shoots and produce timber products.

Shortly after starting work managing Boothland Wood for the council, in exchange for the wood he cut, foot and mouth restrictions banned access to the wood. When he returned his stacks of wood, piled ready for making charcoal, had been decimated.

Youngsters had used it to build camps and burn fires and they had snapped off hazel regrowth destined to be used in making wattled hurdles and fencing.

'Thoughtless

'I must have been the only person in Uckfield not to have used the wood during that period, said Mr Bolton. 'A huge amount of damage was caused. It wasn t mindless destruction, you can see from the way it has been done that they are trying to enjoy the wood. They are just thoughtless and it puts me in a very awkward position.

He reckons the damage has cost him about 200. He should be making charcoal now and had lined up a buyer prepared to take all the charcoal he could produce.

The work Mr Bolton did won 500 for the town council four months ago in an environmental competition run by Wealden Council and he is upset that the money has not been spent on improving the wood.

He wants to put up natural barriers to make it more difficult for youngsters to take bikes in there and churn up the land and he wants to put up signs saying that the wood is managed and patrolled and vandalism, damage and littering could lead to prosecution.

But he has still not been given the go-ahead to do the work. The council s environment committee was due to discuss the problem last week but the meeting was adjourned before the subject came up.

'This is all beginning to feel like a millstone around my neck and I feel like telling the council I m not going to manage the wood any more. I want to get a loan from the bank to buy tools and I need a letter from the council confirming they will be commissioning me to do work but I haven t received that even after asking many times.

Early

'It will take me at least a day to dismantle the camp set up and then if I start work again I will have to finish early to make sure I can take all the wood I have cut out of the wood with me. I don t know whether it is worth it any more.

Chairman of the council s environment committee Mrs Martha Whittle said she was dismayed to hear of Mr Bolton s frustration. She wasn t aware damage in the woods was so serious. She was also upset to hear he was still waiting for a letter from the council confirming he would be commissioned by them to carry out work because she had asked for that to be sent some time ago.

'I have to say I wish he had come to me, said Mrs Whittle. 'Apart from the letter I haven t heard about any of this. This is a good project and I would not like to see it fall without a reasonable post mortem.

Town council environment manager Mrs Christine Wheatley said she felt Mr Bolton s criticism of the council was unfair.

She said Mr Bolton had volunteered to work the wood in the traditional way but it would take years for him to work his way around it and the council was also considering other ways of maintaining it, for example by asking the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers to do some weekend work there.

'We do want Adam to carry on working there and we are trying to help him as much as possible but we have to work within our standing orders, she said.

Tendering

The council was unable to send a letter to his bank guaranteeing they would commission him to carry out work on their behalf because of the need for a tendering process. The best they could say was that he 'may be commissioned to carry it out.

She said damage was caused during the closure of the wood but she didn t feel it was major, more the sort that occurred when children played in woods and the council didn t want to deter them from going there. 'It is all a part of growing up, she added.