Twenty two local residents turned up today, Sunday 13th August 2017 to bid their collective farewell to the Greenhall Conifers, which are scheduled to be felled from tomorrow.
The successful walk through the woods down to Milheugh and back was well attended by families and the weather thankfully stayed dry. The event, organised jointly by Bonnie Blantyre and Blantyre Project gave people a chance to photograph the trees and find out more local history of the area and what’s planned in the next 6 weeks and beyond.
Over 1,000t of timber will be felled and extracted in the coming weeks, primarily unsafe, tall conifers at the end of their life, paving the way for more native tree species and the forrest floor (e.g ferns, bluebells and many other species) to flourish. Greenhall Park will be closed off to the public entirely for 6 weeks and people are asked to respect this given the dangerous work ahead.
Once felling is complete, attention will turn to upgrading the paths and woodland trails, making them more accessible and safer, through the new, smaller, emerging wood. South Lanarkshire Council is returning all the money obtained from the timber, back into this area on this project.
With the council also obtaining £8,000 grant subsidies for each home being built in the nearby Avant Estate, there has also been renewed calls to reinstate the playpark at Greenhall, something Councillors are thankfully onside with. Lets watch this space.
Meantime, we bid farewell to these trees that so many people will remember from childhood, with these photos, capturing how they looked today, on their final days.
Photos: Courtesy Blantyre Project
Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said,