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North Berwick: Protestors attempt to save hedge at school
The protest comes in the wake of plans by East Lothian Council to create new sports pitches to west side of the school on land owned by North Berwick Trust which is designated for educational use.
Partnering with parents and members of Sustaining North Berwick, the pupils held a ‘Hands around the Hedge’ protest in front of the treebelt yesterday afternoon.
READ MORE: North Berwick: Pupils launch petition to save century-old hedge
An East Lothian Council planning application is expected to be lodged soon which will detail the exact specifications of the pitches.
The council told the Courier this week that “the proposal being taken to planning will include removal of a section of the current school boundary hedgerow, as the school boundary requires to change.”
However, at a parent council meeting in September last year, council officials presented a variety of visions of how the pitches may appear – including one that mostly retained the hedgerow.
Ruby Clark, an S6 pupil and member of the school’s eco-committee, stressed how important it was to the biodiversity of North Berwick that the treebelt, more than 200 metres long, remained.
She said: “It’s very important because in terms of climate change, there’s a climate strategy at East Lothian Council and this [proposal] doesn’t fit it at all, it’s the opposite.
“Because of climate change, it’s really vital that we strive for change; climate change is going to affect us really soon if we don’t start changing how we act.
“It may seem like small stuff, but it’s very important and it would make a huge difference if we took out the hedge”.
While she, and members of the committee, understood the importance of sporting facilities, she believed there was a way forward which included retaining the hedgerow.
She added: “It’s part of the community as well and it’s been here for ages.”
Ruby also stressed the importance of having a local cause to fight for.
She said: “It makes us feel like we can make a change right where we are, as well as across the country.”
Reuben Kemp, an S3 pupil and member of the eco-committee, added: “I don’t think it makes any sense if they’ve got two plans and one of them is cutting it down and one isn’t.
“Why would they choose to cut the trees down? It would be such a small area they would be gaining.
“They should still improve the sports facilities, but they can definitely do it in a better way.”
East Lothian Council has said that the the loss of the hedge would be mitigated through new planting nearby that would create a “net gain” in terms of biodiversity.
Alison Clark, a member of Sustaining NB, was in attendance at the protest to support the pupils’ drive to save the hedge and was critical of the council’s view that it could mitigate the loss of the hedgerow.
She said: “I’m astounded that this proposal to remove the hedge is even being considered: it goes against East Lothian Council’s climate strategy, it goes against the national planning framework.
“The idea that you can simply cut down a hedge and replant elsewhere and achieve an increase in biodiversity is nonsense. We need to be doing that planting elsewhere, but keeping the hedge as well.
“It’s the last remaining green corridor and nature network from Grange Road … to the wild areas around the Law.
“It connects these areas and its biodiversity value is much more within that network than simply the wildlife that’s living in the hedge.
“This hedge has got significant wildlife value and it’s got significant conservation importance in the area.”
She added that its removal would “sever the wildlife connection” in the area, harming the lives of numerous species that call the hedge home.
