Save Sauchiebank Wood

 It’s some of the best oak in Edinburgh - but this might have been its last summer.

You’ve probably never heard of Sauchiebank Wood. We’ve walked past it regularly for thirty years, but never knew it was there until we visited it a few weeks ago. 

A local resident alerted Trees of Edinburgh to its imminent destruction for the creation of the Roseburn-Fountainbridge cycle link (planning application 20/03561/FUL). 

We love new active travel routes - but we also love woods - so we went to look. 

Sauchiebank Wood has sprung up in a hectare of land wedged between Russell Road, the Western Approach Road, the railway line to West Lothian, and the line to Glasgow. 

It is now a vibrant, semi-mature woodland with oak, birch, willow, hawthorn, rowan and ash. There is a well-developed shrub layer of bramble and wild rose, a diverse field layer of flowering plants, and a well-developed bryophyte community.

The woodland, which can be accessed from Sauchiebank off Russell Road, was full of autumn birdsong as they feasted on the berries. It would be lovely to visit in summer, when it will be awash with flowers, with their associated pollinating insects and insectivorous birds. 

It is still a 'teenage' wood, but far more advanced than the many 20-year-old 'Millennium Woods' which make up the majority of Edinburgh's woodland pockets, and will take decades to develop structural diversity and ecological interest. Sauchiebank Wood has matured over fifty years or more, and every year becomes more interesting. 

Exploring it as new coronavirus restrictions were imposed, and as the weather changed, we felt our spirits lift. Who would have imagined there was such an oasis in the heart of Dalry? 

The proposals would destroy all this. This map shows the tree removal proposals for Sauchiebank Wood. 

Blue crosses show show trees to be removed as a result of tree survey: these are likely to be diseased ash, and in fact felling these (and ideally leaving them as a deadwood resource) would open up the forest canopy and give the remaining trees room to grow. 

However, red crosses show trees to be removed for the cycle path development: it is the whole wood.  

It is not necessary. Paths could be routed through this wood with the loss of very few trees: in fact, there are already a paths in place, with good hard standing, running the length of the wood. The old railway base is the perfect foundation for a cycle path, and requires minimal work. 

If this is too narrow for a shared path, it would be straightforward to make a separate walking path amongst the trees. 

There are levels changes to contend with. However, it is the role of the architect to solve the problem given to them by the Council. The Council should instruct the architects to come back with a design which minimises the loss of trees, recognising the high and irreplaceable value of this natural woodland asset. Losing it would be taking Edinburgh's Million Tree Strategy backwards. 

Opening up Sauchiebank Wood is an amazing opportunity. Here is a chance to give thousands of people in an extremely built-up area access to, and an active travel route through, rich mature woodland - for free! The proposals as they stand require a great deal of landscaping and, ironically, tree planting which will inevitably result in a far inferior environment for both people and wildlife, and will require costly maintenance. Compared with a landscaped public space, mature woodland like this requires relatively little upkeep, once the initial work to remove the Ash has been done. 

We didn't hear of the Sauchiebank Wood proposals until the planning application had closed. But it's not too late...

We urgently need your help to save it! 

Please send an objection to the proposal to planning@edinburgh.gov.uk with the subject line 'Late objection to 20/03561/FUL', to request that the proposals for Sauchiebank Wood be paused, and new proposals brought that enable the valuable woodland to be retained. 

If possible, please copy in your Councillors who can help represent your concerns to the committee. You can find your Councillors by following this link and selecting your ward from the drop-down menu. If you click on Councillors' names you will find their email address. Please include your address so that they know they are your representative. 

Every email really does make a difference - as we discovered in the case of the Discovery Garden at Ocean Terminal, saved from destruction thanks to pressure from Trees of Edinburgh supporters.

Once you have sent the email, reward yourself by going to have a look at Sauchiebank Wood yourself: the leaves are off the trees now, but the hips and haws, birdlife and bryophytes are at some of their best. With travel restricted beyond our local authority, we need places like this more than ever. 

Dr Eleanor Harris

Andrew Heald MICFor

Trees of Edinburgh