Gower illegal tree felling: Man fails in appeal bid

Jeff Lane was appealing a conviction after he was found guilty of illegally chopping down the equivalent of 12 football fields of protected woodland

A man convicted of illegally felling more than 2,000 trees has failed in an appeal against his conviction.

Jeff Lane was found guilty in March of felling more than eight hectares (20 acres) of woodland on Gower, Swansea, without the appropriate licence.

Recorder R Kenber told Swansea Crown Court there was "clear and compelling evidence" that illegal felling had taken place.

Lane will be sentenced at a later date.

He had tried to argue that he had only cut down "rotten and decayed trees" in an effort to "improve the land" at Old Forge Farm, in Fairwood.

The parcel of land in 2015 before the tree felling took place

This aerial photo shows the same piece of land after trees were cut down

The court found those assertions "did not hold up" and that much of the expert witness evidence the defendant offered was not credible.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) also proved that an enforcement notice to restock the trees that had been felled in 2019 had not been acted on.

During proceedings, Damian Ward, who visited the site on multiple occasions in his role as a woodland officer for NRW, said it was "absolutely clear" Lane had gone beyond the initial license application which allowed for the thinning of the trees.

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He also said repeated warnings were not listened to.

Asked about the environmental impact, forestry officer Nicholas Fackrell told the court it was "by far" the most significant in terms of environmental impact he had seen in his career.

In a statement Mr Fackrell added: "This is one of the worst cases of illegal tree felling that NRW has investigated in over 30 years.

"We carried out a thorough investigation and the evidence was strong that illegal felling activity had taken place.

"The loss of this native and wet woodland is devastating, and it will take many generations for new trees to grow to replace them, if they grow at all."