AN APPEAL set up by community protestors battling to stop the John Buchan Way becoming a ‘forest track’ has raised £10,000 in its first week.

Last week it was reported that the Stobo Residents Action Group (StoboRAG), with members from across Tweeddale, hoped to crowd-fund a £35,000 judicial review.

It would challenge the decision by Scottish Forestry to approve a 10-square kilometre coniferous forest, to be planted by the Stobo Estate, in and around the Upper Tweeddale National Scenic Area (NSA).

More than 115 people have pledged money to support the legal action in Edinburgh’s Court of Session.

One anonymous donation was for £4,500 and there was also one pledge of £500.

In addition Christine Grahame – the MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale – has raised the issue with the Scottish Government.

Ms Grahame said: “I share the concerns of Stobo Residents Action Group and also have concerns about the potential impact on the Golden Eagle South of Scotland project. 

“I visited the golden eagle project and know the care and dedication which goes into protecting the young birds especially from human contact and then gradually acclimatizing them to the wild.

“It is concerning that Nature Scot seems to have been bypassed.

“As a result, I have written to the Scottish Government to raise this issue and ask if there is any scope for it to intervene.

“I am currently awaiting its response.”

Among supporting comments on the Crowdfunder site, Douglas MacMillan said: “Scottish Forestry claims that a Sitka spruce plantation on such a large scale was approved primarily to help combat climate change.

“This is a highly dubious justification.

“Aside from all the negative impacts on the local environment and economy, Sitka spruce establishment will emit carbon through soil disturbance (planting and felling) and even after the timber is processed there will be even more carbon leaked out as a result of processing and consumption.

“Native woodland over a longer period (say 50-100 years) is almost as good in terms of carbon sequestration as Sitka because those negative impacts are avoided.”

Last week a Scottish Forestry spokesperson said: “Conifers are vital to tackling climate change, the latest scientific research has found that they soak up CO2 at a faster rate than broadleaves – it is only much later, usually 100 years, that a broadleaf tree would catch up.

“The timber obtained from domestic forestry does not require to be imported to Scotland, with the associated environmental issues, and further locks up that carbon for the lifetime of the product.”

The spokesperson added that a number of environmental factors had been thoroughly examined.

They said: “With significant projects such as this one, detailed consideration of the potential for any significant environmental impacts, in line with the Forestry Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations Scotland 2017, are undertaken.”

The Crowdfunder is at: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-stobo-hope-from-commercial-forestry-project-1