24-Jan-2022

Carol-Anne interviewed

Tell us a bit about you and why you started the campaign?  
My name is Carol-Anne O’Callaghan and, together with my daughter Blaize, we launched the ‘Save Leather Lane Oaks’ campaign.

Why are you asking for funding?
We have raised over £17,000 from national donation but it has been spent on ecology, campaign and engineer design costs. Recently, we have reached out to local residents and received an overwhelming amount of support for our campaign. So it would be great if local residents could join the national supporters and donate whatever they can afford to our crowdfunder. Every £1 makes a difference.

Why are you focusing on the story of Ilona the oak?
This social media account #ilonatheoak on Twitter and Instagram, has been set up in support of the Leather Lane campaign, at the suggestion of Woodland Trust.  She is loved by many local people, some of whom have childhood memories of climbing her and sitting under her branches. We are trying to raise national awareness of Ilona’s plight by giving her a voice. It would be fantastic if local people could 'follow' her and add their comments, ask her questions, send her photos – give her a fan club!

She is an iconic oak tree that stands alone near the top of Leather Lane but is connected to the lane by a mature hedgerow. The hedgerow may need to be removed but Ilona, the Lone Oak, is under threat to be felled by HS2, not because she is in the way of the track, the haul road or even, their option 6A over-road design. Apparently, they want to fell her for ‘landscaping design purposes’ because the planned sloping earth gradients along the track won’t be ‘consistent’ if they leave Ilona in place. The Chiltern hills are full of undulating landscapes and, in time, the HS2 slopes themselves will settle and become undulating. This is why we are highlighting her plight and publicly pointing out that despite what HS2 say, they do needlessly fell mature and ancient trees. The environmental value and history of a mature tree of Ilona’s size and age becomes irrelevant to HS2 because of their landscaping requirements.

Where can I find out more?
Updates on our progress are uploaded here to our facebook page #saveleatherlane  
and to Change.org:

What more can I do?

Monitor local wildlife that are under threat and contact us to find out how. In this process we have discovered endless bats as well as red kites, badgers, trapped deer and great crested newts that have been overlooked and need protection

Get in touch with our campaign if you have further ideas/ suggestions for how to contribute.

We currently need an IT whizz, admin and campaign assistant.

and feet on the ground to engage with locals and monitor local wildlife that are under threat.

 

Thank you for reading

Carol-Anne O’Callaghan