SSE Wood remains symbol of resolve against ‘Super-Stansted’

Armed with power tools as well as more traditional gardening implements, a posse of Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) supporters turned out on Sunday 14 October to tackle the autumn tidy up of the SSE Wood at Broxted Hill.

More than a dozen volunteers cleared undergrowth and weed from around tree bases and removed some of the now-redundant plastic tree guards in the first of two sessions to be held this season.

The SSE Wood was inaugurated in 2004 when SSE Patron Terry Waite CBE planted an oak tree on the site then proposed for a second runway. A further 500 trees were planted later that year including maple, oak, hornbeam, hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, ash and crab apple.

The wood was intended to reflect the determination and resolve of local people to see children and trees alike flourish and reach maturity rather than be uprooted from their homes to make way for an expanded Stansted Airport. It remains a symbol of the fierce determination of the community to oppose major growth at the airport, not least in the context of the latest calls for a ‘Super Stansted’ with four runways.

The Woodland Trust has provided guidance and support over the years and the wood also has the endorsement of the Tree Council.