Landowner ends threat to bulldoze woodland

A STAND-OFF between a landowner and police has ended after the businessman rescinded his threat to bulldoze trees at a Lanarkshire beauty spot.

Will Charlton, from Berrystead, Hartford, was protesting against public access legislation and the refusal of the Forestry Commission to grant him a felling licence on his 100-acre land at Carfin Wood between Crossford and Stonebyres. He claims the extension of the Clyde Valley walkway past his commercial woodland has left him with what is essentially a public park, maintained at his own expense.

However, last night, after a meeting with officers from Strathclyde Police, Mr Charlton stood down the team of contractors employed to fell the trees, fearing arrest and possible prosecution.

He said: "We’ve not operated the bulldozer at this time. As I’ve explained any number of times, I’ve been unable to pursue this through the civil courts and we are making a gesture.

"I’m not in the business of developing a public park. This was designed for trees which would be felled and also as a deer forest."

The walkway stretches from Broomielaw in Glasgow to New Lanark, taking in a number of outstanding beauty spots. Mr Charlton has already twice bulldozed trees on his land in protest, and he has also threatened to burn the wood.

The Forestry Commission maintains that Mr Charlton is bound by the terms of the Woodland Grant Scheme, which issued grants to him during the 1980s allowing him to replant Carfin Woods.

After he destroyed trees in 1998, the commission obtained an interdict forbidding him from doing anything which may breach the Forestry Act, under which no-one can fell a tree of more than five cubic metres without a licence.

A spokesman for the Forestry Commission said: "Mr Charlton has not applied for a licence, therefore he will be carrying out an illegal felling.

"If he carried out his threat and felled the trees, then we would investigate and send a report to the local procurator fiscal."

A successful prosecution could see Mr Charlton fined up to 2,500.

A spokesman for South Lanarkshire Council said: "

Any damage that Mr Charlton causes will be a matter for the police to deal with."