The Coppice

[grego]

I'd say restore for the monument, I think its a good idea to have some form of shelter up there, a few years ago we were up there when a snow storm came on quite suddenley, it went very windy and visability was bad, we were very pleased there were a shelter at that time.

[Ianto.W.]

Restore it, and plant some Dessiduous and native trees, scrub out the phoney conifers when possible. This will encourage wild life to return to the Coppice, you will not find any wildlife amongst these small leafed or needle leafed trees. Birds won't nest in them rabbits cannot feed beneath them as they block all the light from the floor canopy, nothing grows under conifer / fir type trees, They are not native to our shores in the 'main', the are set ot like an army . Take a look at 40s 50s photographs and see the difference,you can actually see the Coppice as it should be.

[Nickelson]

Lets face it the tree's are hear to stay unless we start a campaign.
They look s*** fake and thick but there must be over 1000 and that would cost millions in tree surgeons.

[panther]

it does need to be restored, have ya seen all the gravity!!

dates back since the 80's, used to go up there a lot back then when i used to vist me grandma!

[MargaretR]

Originally Posted by panther

it does need to be restored, have ya seen all the gravity!!

It does look seriously heavy
think you meant graffiti

[panther]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

It does look seriously heavy
think you meant graffiti

LOL...gravity...lol...yeh i meant graffiti....

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by panther

have ya seen all the gravity!!

That probably accounts for all the land slipping from beneath it!

[Ianto.W.]

Originally Posted by Nickelson

Lets face it the tree's are hear to stay unless we start a campaign.
They look s*** fake and thick but there must be over 1000 and that would cost millions in tree surgeons.

A decent bulldozer would scrub them out in no time and then shred them for mulch and compost 3 men a fortnight should murder it10.000 to 15 grand at the most minus the money made on the shredded waste. These so called adulterated trees are a blot on the landscape, in my humble opinion.

[Nickelson]

Lets get it done.

Why was this never done ?
Conifer trees get the chop | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited
Guardian arcticle on conifer felling.

[Stanleymad]

Holy family pupils in the late 60's - early 70's, planted the trees on the coppice face, my dad distinctly remembers planting some, but admit they have grown wild & out of control.

Shame about the mess its in & should be restored & maintained, used to spend most of my time up there as a kid.

[g jones]

The trees are to be replaced over a long period of time as I understand, back to a more natural species/environment. It is accepted they are not ideal by all, including LCC.

[g jones]

I accept Busmans point about vandalism. I was thinking about Darwen tower and how impressive that is from distance. It may be unacceptable we replace the current monument so how can we 'improve it' short of cleaning it up an dleaving it as it is (to be vandalised again!!)

I wondered if we made some sort of a glass/glass like replica much bigger and placed it around restricting access to the original whilst creating a more spectacular monument. Is it possible to make thick enough vandal proof glass like surfaces. I am not so sure you can? Just thinking about ideas so no stupid comments please...

[Gayle]

Busman

At no point did I suggest that there should be a project to REPLACE the current monument. But what I did say is that the current monument is in a bad way and probably not safe - should it be restored or removed - replace not being an option.

[Doug]

If the will and finance is there then it should be a simple excise to make safe and repair the monument. At the end of the day this is local heritage and if we can’t work together and act to resolve the issue then the future as little to offer.

Vandals will always work against the work of others, the best way to control them if not stop them is inclusion, get them involved, community punishments, school projects, special interest grounds. Get them young, get them involved, make them stakeholders in there own communities and I thing many of them will police the site for the community freeing up money for anti vandal treatments etc.

The tress shouldn’t be much of a problem, being shallow rooted they should come out easy enough but think positive, this may be low quality timber, but it’s timber and it as a value, the quality wood can be sold on to fund replanting, the lesser quality stuff can the used to make seating products, low level fencing are be chipped to make pathways or be sold on as composted bark. In essence it all as a value and a part to play the areas future, all it takes will and a little money.

What a about a community volunteer force in the vain of the challenge Anika, local and regional business, trade professionals and local the population working across a couple of months next summer.

[Eric]

Need trees? We have 9,884, 670 sq. km of them.