Campaign to clear up Hoad’s Wood ramps up: Petition close to 5,000 signatures as bodies including CLA urge Defra to act now

The campaign to clear up Hoad’s Wood is ramping up, with a petition closing in on 5,000 signatures and a range of organisations including the CLA writing to Defra urging it to act now.

The ancient woodland, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, has been victim of industrial-scale waste disposal by criminal gangs over many months.

Six organisations – the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Kent Wildlife Trust, South East Rivers Trust, Woodland Trust, RSPB and CPRE Kent – have banded together to ask the Secretary of State for Defra Steve Barclay to approve an immediate clean-up of Hoad’s Wood, near Ashford, Kent.

Earlier this year the Environment Agency closed the site to prevent further tipping, with campaigners and witnesses saying dozens of vehicle movements had transported large quantities of waste up to 25 ft high onto the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) over several months, causing a smell and polluting the woodland, soil and local water courses.

A court order is in place prohibiting anyone from entering or depositing waste at Hoad’s Wood in Ashford, and the site's gate has been locked and concrete blocks placed to prevent access.

There were one million incidents of fly-tipping on public land in England last year, with 25,000 of them in the Garden of England – more than any other county in the South East. The true figure is likely to be far higher, as Defra’s data does not include incidents on private land.

CLA South East Regional Director Tim Bamford said “Fly-tipping and the dumping of waste on a mass scale have a huge impact on the environment, farming and our natural landscapes, and the CLA has great sympathy with Hoad’s Wood. This precious site needs to be cleaned up as quickly as possible."

A spokesperson for the Rescue Hoad’s Wood Campaign said: “Each day the waste remains, the more wildlife is impacted and the greater the health risks to the wider community. We need action and we need it now, I would urge Mr Barclay to use the powers available to him to sort out this mess.

“People can help us by visiting the Rescue Hoad’s Wood website and signing the petition, calling on those with the power to do something, to clean up Hoad’s Wood and ensure that measures are put in place to stop this happening again, here or elsewhere in our country.”

For more on the campaign and its petition visit https://rescuehoadswood.org/