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Illegally felled woodland to become nature reserve

Richard Youle
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Gower Society Aerial shot of woodland with a huge number of trees chopped down, piles are visible stacked up and there are very few trees still standing. Gower Society
Judge Richard Kember said the woodland had "been effectively eradicated"

Woodland where 12 football fields worth of trees was illegally felled by its owner is to become a nature reserve after an organisation which helped in a long-running court case bought the land.

Jeff Lane caused a "devastating loss" to the environment by the illegal felling of 2,000 trees in 2019 on more than eight hectares (20 acres) on Gower, Swansea.

At the time, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) called it the worst case of illegal tree felling it had seen in 30 years.

Gower Society, whose aerial photos provided evidence in the case, has bought the land and said the area would become a "haven" for wildlife in the centre of Gower.

The Gower Society formed in 1947 to protect and promote the landscape and history of the peninsula, which became the UK's first area of outstanding natural beauty in 1956.

For the last two decades it has taken aerial photos of Gower and one of these in 2020 showed land at The Old Forge farm at Lower Fairwood being far less wooded compared to an aerial photo it had taken five years previously.

Landowner Thomas Jeffrey Lane was convicted at Swansea Magistrates' Court in 2022 of breaching a section of the Forestry Act.

The court heard he had cut down about 21 acres of woodland – the equivalent of 12 football pitches – without holding an appropriate licence, along with non-compliance with an enforcement notice to restock trees he had previously felled in 2019.

Gower Society said it would lease the 43-acre site to a wildlife trust to manage as a reserve.

Gower Society The same woodland as the photo above, but with a huge expanse of trees. The only gap in the tree-cover is a tiny square on the right of the photo.Gower Society
The protected woodland in 2015, before the felling took place

"It was a big decision, and a lot of money," said Jill Burgess, a trustee of the society. "We think it's going to be a wonderful legacy."

The land acquired by the Gower Society had been put up for sale for £390,000 but "after some difficult negotiations" it was able to purchase it, according to minutes from a meeting in March of the Gower national landscape advisory group.

"This will be a major contribution to the landscape and a haven for wildlife in the centre of Gower, linking up with other wildlife trust reserves," said the society.

The reserve will be created by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.

"This will ensure the future protection of ​this site and its wildlife, and support work to restore its habitats and species," said the trust, which added that it would not be open to the public.