Nature lovers’ fears over loss of trees at £40m Siemens site in East Yorkshire

Nature-lovers are hoping Siemens spares the axe over “protected” trees earmarked for felling on a site it is developing at Goole Rail Village.

Dozens of trees on the New Potter Grange site will be cut down to make way for a £40m assembly and service centre for bogies, as part of the recently opened rail village which makes underground tube trains.

Plans - which were approved by East Riding Council officers in September - look set to see over 13,000 square metres of woodland, including 27 individual and 14 groups of trees, felled.

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All the trees were covered by a "tree protection order" (TPO) and conservationists say they support a wealth of biodiversity, including bats, birds, invertebrates and reptiles. TPOs are made by councils to protect trees that have a significant impact on their local surroundings.

Archive pic The grounds of the former Potter Grange house, burned down an arson attack in 2008, has a range of mature trees including Orchard species and some of the oldest trees on site. Pic credit: Friends of OakhillArchive pic The grounds of the former Potter Grange house, burned down an arson attack in 2008, has a range of mature trees including Orchard species and some of the oldest trees on site. Pic credit: Friends of Oakhill
Archive pic The grounds of the former Potter Grange house, burned down an arson attack in 2008, has a range of mature trees including Orchard species and some of the oldest trees on site. Pic credit: Friends of Oakhill

Some date back to the 1880s when a country house was built by businessman William Smith.

The rail village is next to Oakhill Nature Reserve and the Friends of Oakhill (FO) group pleaded with Siemens to alter the building's footprint to allow for a "substantial nucleus of trees and habitat to be left in-situ" having already lost 60 per cent of the trees in the development of the rail village.

They say the proposed planting plans for shrubs and semi-mature trees in the remaining smaller margins can't make up for what will be lost.

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The group's objection highlighted that the East Riding has the lowest proportion of tree cover in England – just 2.2 per cent.

A FO spokesperson said Siemens had moved the footprint "slightly" earlier this year, preserving "a group of trees in the bottom corner". However between 50 and 100 mature specimens, including a giant sequoia and two beeches, will go.

Siemens is providing £10,000 funding, which it says will go towards tree planting in the “area of Oak Hill country park or the wider Goole and Airmyn parishes”.

The FO spokesperson said the group supported the facility and the jobs it would provide, but were "very disappointed" about the trees and habitat loss.

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He said: "Tree planting elsewhere is robbing Peter to pay Paul, but not giving Paul enough back. There's green and greater spotted woodpecker there and roosts for bats.

"We wanted them to realign it altogether to save the trees. They said they couldn't, but we are not convinced they still couldn't realign it."

Siemens Mobility said they take “sustainability very seriously” and had worked with the council to keep as many mature trees as possible. They’d developed a planting scheme, including an orchard.

Outline planning permission for the rail village granted in 2019, included removing trees on the site. They’d planted new trees and created habitat for “amphibians”.

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A statement said: “The latest development has also successfully passed through the detailed planning process. This will see the development of a new facility that will allow us to bring up to 300 extra jobs to the East Riding, complimenting up to 700 extra jobs from our initial investment in the Rail Village.”

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