Woodland gets new protection as council imposes a new legal order

Barnsley Council imposed a temporary order on Worsbrough Hall Wood, which spans a large area of land around Worsbrough Village and is in multiple ownership, earlier this year and that was due to expire in the autumn.

The land was already protected by a Parkland Order imposed in 1953, which effectively does the same job as a tree preservation order but it has been discovered it could only be applied to trees which were present at the time, meaning anything which had grown in the last 65 years was not protected.

An objection to the order was made by the owner of part of the site, called the Walk Plantation, with a request that it should be excluded from the overall TPO area, with a claim that the original order offered sufficient protection.

Coun Chris Lamb told members of the planning board which agreed the TPO: “It is beyond doubt that the proposed extension of the tree preservation order will protect a significant green corridor.”

It was an important area for the “physical and mental wellbeing of residents”, he said.