A wildlife trust in Hillingdon has raised concerns about the council’s management of a local Nature Reserve. Members of the Ruislip Woods Trust (RWT) questioned councillors at a recent full council meeting about their handling of personnel and plans for the maintenance of the woods.
According to the RWT, the council has failed to make the necessary recruitments to ensure Ruislip Woods is well managed, which includes allegedly leaving a Woodland Officer role vacant since December 2023. This issue was exacerbated in April 2024 when members of the trust discovered that two wild grass fields adjacent to the woods, which are important habitats for birds and butterflies, had been threshed.
In response, the RWT reported the council for wildlife crimes. Mark Morgan, Treasurer/Chairman of the trust, told Local Democracy Reporting Services that the fields were ‘crucial’ for local wildlife and that the mowing had come at one of the worst possible times.
Although the grass has partially recovered in the months since, Mark says the incident will have disrupted numerous species of birds and insects that nest in the area during the spring. Uncertainty surrounding who ordered the area to be cleared has highlighted growing concerns about the woods.
The RWT claims that in just ten years the number of staff managing the 755 acres of woodland has been quartered and a plan for the nature reserve’s future set to be released in 2021 has still not been published.
Mark alleged to the LDRS that the lack of staff has made communication with the council increasingly difficult. At the full council meeting, he raised his concern.
He said: “At the Full Council Meeting on the 30th November 2023, in response to our question about the recruitment for the new Woodland Officer (the previous one was retiring in December 2023) we were told and recorded in the minutes it states ‘the recruitment process was currently underway’.
“As of July 11, 2024, no replacement has been appointed so please would the Cabinet Member advise when we can expect a new Woodland Officer to be in post and whether this will be a full time position?”
Councillor Ed Lavery, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, said: “The work of community woodland officer is currently being covered by other members of green spaces and has been since [the last one] retired in 2023. When he retired, he was only doing part-time hours anyway.”
He continued: “The service has been satisfactorily covering the work.” Cllr Lavery added that the post was currently in review so he could not guarantee an exact like-for-like replacement.
Anand Punja, another member of the Trust, also asked about the council’s management plan for the woods, which is a statutory requirement.
As part of his question, Anand said: “A management plan that must be kept up to date and be reviewed every 5 years. The current plan expired 3 years ago (2021) and therefore the Council is not complying with its statutory duty.”
Cllr Lavery responded that the review was delayed by the pandemic but would be “available for publication shortly.”
In response to the council’s answers, the RWT made a statement: “Despite the answers from Councillor Lavery, at the full council meeting on July 11th, Ruislip Woods Trust remains concerned about the direction of travel in which the management of Ruislip Woods by Hillingdon Council is moving, especially given it’s status as a National Nature Reserve.
Rory Bennett is a journalist and former Local Democracy Reporter who contributed to Harrow Online. He covered local government, planning, housing, transport and community issues across Hounslow, Ealing and Hillingdon, reporting on council decisions and the issues affecting local residents.
