Campaigners call for £10m to revive bluebell wood

The Rescue Hoad's Wood campaign group says an area spanning four acres (1.6 hectares) of the woodland is buried in waste

The clear-up of an ancient bluebell woodland in Kent blighted by “illegally” dumped waste will cost an estimated £10m, campaigners have said.

Thousands of tonnes of waste, including rubble, toys and sanitary products, have turned once-picturesque Hoad's Wood, near Ashford, into a “desolate wasteland”, according to CPRE Kent.

A petition signed by more than 6,500 people called for an "immediate clean-up" of the site, which was shut by the Environment Agency (EA) in January to prevent further waste-tipping.

The action group, Rescue Hoad's Wood, is calling on the government to approve a £10m budget for the site's full clearance and its replanting with native species.

Some areas of Hoad's Wood, which should be carpeted in bluebells at this time of year, are buried in feet of fly-tipped waste

Campaigners estimate it will take six months for waste to be cleared from the area, which has been designated a site of special scientific interest.

It is also an area of outstanding natural beauty, which ought to be carpeted in bluebells at this time of year but instead huge swathes of the woodland is buried in waste tens of feet deep.

A spokesperson for Rescue Hoad's Wood said “time is ticking” for the budget to clear the site to be approved.

They said the risk to wildlife and the wider environment was expected to rise with higher temperatures in the summer.

The petition follows an open letter written earlier this month to the Environment Secretary Steve Barclay by six organisations calling for support and funding to clear the site, which began seeing issues with waste being dumped there in 2020.

Rescue Hoad's Wood campaigners said community members would see as many as 20-30 trucks per day dumping waste at the woods at the height of the problem in July 2023.

Ashford Borough Council has said to date it had been “unable to establish that the issues have crossed the threshold of a statutory nuisance” but that it continued to "liaise with the relevant agencies" including Natural England and the EA.

The EA reiterated that it was continuing its investigations into illegal fly-tipping at the site and was "determined to keep one step ahead of criminals".

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