Tree-felling land has been bought

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

An organisation whose aerial photos formed part of the evidence in a long-running court tree-felling case in Gower has now bought the land where they were chopped down.

It is the first time the Gower Society has purchased land, and it is leasing the 43-acre site to a wildlife trust to manage as a reserve.

The society described the land as rich habitat with open areas, meadows and a stream and said it had landscape value importance and wildlife potential.

“It was a big decision, and a lot of money,” said Jill Burgess, a trustee of the society. “We think it’s going to be a wonderful legacy.”

The Gower Society formed in 1947 and seeks to protect and promote the landscape and history of the peninsula, which became the UK’s first area of outstanding natural beauty in 1956.

For the last two decades it has taken aerial photos of Gower and one of these, in 2020, showed land at The Old Forge, Cartersford Lower Farm, Lower Fairwood, being far less wooded compared to an aerial photo it had taken five years previously.

Conviction

Landowner Thomas Jeffrey Lane was convicted at Swansea Magistrates’ Court in 2022 of breaching a section of the Forestry Act. The court heard he had cut down around 21 acres of woodland – the equivalent of 12 football pitches – without holding an appropriate licence, along with non-compliance with an enforcement notice to restock trees he had previously felled in 2019.

The loss of the native and wet woodland was described by Natural Resources Wales (NRW), which brought the prosecution, as one of the worst offences of illegal felling they had seen for 30 years.

Mr Lane, of The Old Forge, Cartersford Lower Farm, Gower, appealed the conviction but was tried again and found guilty later in 2022. The defendant, a retired mechanic, said he’d found the trees to be waterlogged and rotten.

A judge then made a confiscation order in 2024 requiring the defendant to pay £11,280, plus a fine of £1,500, although the judge agreed with NRW’s assessment that Mr Lane had benefited by more than £78,600 from his actions. The £11,280 figure was based on his available assets.

In December last year NRW became aware that Mr Lane was about to come into additional assets from the sale of property, and the original confiscation order was increased three months later to £78,614.

Sale

The 43 acres of land acquired by the Gower Society had been put up for sale for £390,000, according to the minutes of a meeting in March of the Gower national landscape advisory group, which is convened by Swansea Council.

Minutes from that meeting said the society had bought the plot “after some difficult negotiations”.

The society said on its website: “This will be a major contribution to the landscape and a haven for wildlife in the centre of Gower, linking up with other wildlife trust reserves.”

The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales – the new lessee – said a new nature reserve known as Cartersford will be created there.

“This will ensure the future protection of ​this site and its wildlife, and support work to restore its habitats and species,” said a spokeswoman for the trust, who added that it wouldn’t be open to the public. More details about its plans are due to be published shortly.