Britain to Re-Forest Wales?????

Grangetown in 20 years

I do enjoy flicking through the Sunday papers, although do feel a little guilty at times that the shear quantity of newsprint maybe de-foresting some part of the world. However do not worry, as good old Wales will come to the rescue for according to one of the London broadsheets, the good old Taffy's are about to be smothered in trees.

According to research carried out for the 'National Ecosystem Assessment' by the 'Government', Wales should switch a fifth of its farmland to forestry because its agriculture is so unprofitable. A Professor Bateman of East Anglia University stated that: -

"Most of Wales is covered by farms, but farmers are only rewarded for producing low value foods like lamb."

He then goes on to argue that huge forests should be created around Swansea and Cardiff and that the North East from Wrexham to Rhyl should be re-forested to act as a recreation area for the English cities of the North West. Now, this particular Professor is no mad loon used to fill the Sunday papers with insane thoughts, but an academic employed by the British state to steer their political agenda. There is indeed a very strong argument for reducing the over-dependency on sheep farming in Wales and re-forestation is clearly going to play a significant role in future land use in Wales. However, this is where this particular article starts to lose the plot. For throughout the whole article scribed by Jonathan Leake, there is no mention that Planning and Rural Affairs are actually devolved issues, so it is frankly none of London's business!

To make matters worse, the research proposes the North East being closed down to farming and being opened up as a Manchester/Liverpool weekend 'plaything'. I can't wait to see what the FUW make of that. To make their article even more of a farce, the map of Wales they display illustrating the potential new forested areas includes much of the industrialised south, including Central Cardiff, Central Swansea and Caerphilly. Where are the people going to live, in trees?

The shame about this article is that the point they are trying to make is a valid one, both in terms of recreation and the necessary changes to land use. Yet, because of an inept and frankly lazy piece of journalism, it has completely ignored devolution, the Welsh Government, the efforts being already made in Wales to do this and the fact that farming land use in Wales has nothing whatsoever to do with the British Government (skipping over everyone in Cardiff living in trees-I thought that Fleet Street believed we lived in caves).

Please feel free to write to the Sunday Times and suggest that Jonathan Leake spends a little more time in the 'regions'.