THE Ministry of Defence's (MOD) decision to clear acres of trees and shrubs on its land surrounding Caesar's Camp has been greeted by widespread dismay. With deforestation beginning last month, many oak, pine and silver birch trees have been culled, with the intention of returning much of the 260-hectare site into open heathland. The land - officially called Aldershot Army Training Area - houses a diverse range of wildlife, including deer, badgers and swans, as well as rare heathland birds including the nightjar, woodlark and the Dartford warbler. With this in mind, the site is decreed as being a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), forming part of a Special Protection area (SPA) for birds. Much of the training area is heavily protected by nature conservation legislation, with the heathland at the site recognised as one of the scarcest habitat types in Europe. Yet there will also be new introductions: a secure perimeter fence will surround the site, with Highland cattle and ponies set to graze inside from spring. However, several local residents are unhappy with the advertising and enactment of the scheme. "What this basically amounts to is an ecological disaster. They've just flattened acres of trees," said Farnham's Keith Baxter. "What they say they intend to do and what they are doing are two completely different things. They say they have been trying to strike a balance between conservation and a return to heathland for military use and also to maintain the aesthetics of the area. "They have done the first two in practice and destroyed the third completely. I don't know how many people are contacting them but everybody I have met is horrified," he continued. "The key thing is that they were going to be leaving clumps of trees. The first thing that strikes you is: where are the clumps? "They've left the odd tree. Yet they've chopped down extremely beautiful old pine trees and left silver birch trees, which will fall down in 20 or 30 years. Why are they doing it? And Mr Baxter was not alone in his concerns. "The sign they put up is so silly," said Cliff Dewing, who lives at nearby Sandy Hill. "It starts off by saying that it's a conservation area and then it says 'We are cutting all the trees down and putting a huge fence around it'," he added. "I was nearly in tears the first time I saw it. It looks like there's been a hurricane over there," said Waverley borough councillor Maggie Taylor, who also lives at Sandy Hill. "Obviously I'm concerned about the trees and I'm also glad that someone seems to care about it as well," she added. "A lot of the local yokels didn't know anything about it at all, which I think is a bit naughty, really," added Shirley Coates of Heath End. "All of a sudden it's devastation up there. They're supposed to be introducing rare ponies and making it into a national park with a perimeter fence, but I don't think anybody was warned about it. I was quite shocked," she added. In a statement, Jonathan Gasson, regional estates adviser for the Army Training Estates of the Home Counties, said: "These works are part of an ongoing programme agreed with English Nature (EN) to improve and maintain the condition of SSSI's owned and managed by the MOD. "As landowner, the MOD has a duty to enhance and protect the features for which the site has been designated and a lack of management at the Aldershot training area for the last 50 years has resulted in the widespread encroachment of trees, scrub and bracken onto the heathland. "This led English Nature to the classify of the condition of the SSSI as 'unfavourable declining'. English Nature has advised the MOD that the tree and scrub encroachment needs to be halted to prevent succession from open heathland to woodland and that grazing is the best tool for long-term management of the heath. "Widespread clearance of trees and scrub has been carried out across the southern part of the training area around Caesar's Camp in recent months," he added. With regard to the future of the location, Mr Gasson continued: "Fencing will be erected around the perimeter to enable the introduction of cattle and ponies to graze the area this spring. "The MOD is fully aware of the long-term need to maintain these newly cleared areas of heath. While mechanical control keeps scrub in check, grazing is essential to enhance the quality and diversity of the sward. The MOD has established a partnership with the Hampshire Wildlife Trust (HWT) whereby HWT is licensed to graze the Aldershot training area as well as other parts of the MOD estate for improved conservation and biodiversity. "The fence has been designed to affect access by visitors as little as possible, with most of the current ad hoc access points served with a kissing gate for pedestrian access. The purpose of the fence is not to exclude public access, but to keep the livestock in." "The installation of a secure perimeter fence will not only enable the Wildlife Trust to graze the heathland vegetation with livestock, it will also help to reduce the misuse of the area (illegal motorcycling, fly tipping, arson etc). There will be an increased level of wardening. They will also be holding meetings with local residents' groups to explain the changes to the area and to find ways of working together to improve the area for everyone," he continued. Answering claims regarding poor advertising, Mr Gasson explained. "Posters were put up in November 2005 and work started in January 2006. Despite the posters, we did not receive any response from local people until the work actually started on the ground in January." Finally, Mr Gasson was swift to assuage fears from locals that some of the area may be sold off for housing. "There is no intention to sell off any part of the training area. Even if this were the case, it could never be 'developed' for housing. This is because the Aldershot Training Area is afforded some of the highest level of environmental protection in England," he commented.
