Development for the north? Let them eat wood | Letters

Readers respond to the government's pledge of ?5.7m towards the creation of a northern forest stretching from Liverpool to Hull, and to a report on agroforestryThe government's tossing a few million towards a grand ?500m "northern forest" (Government pledges ?5.7m for northern forest, 8 January) is an example of the puny tokenism operating today, where acts of vandalism against our precious environment, such as HS2, can be so casually "offset". HS2 is a folly, the stubborn imposition of a luxury fairground ride built over never-to-be-seen-again landscapes.Improve what we have, protect the things that are good around us, cancel HS2. And for sure, plant some more trees (and not just pine and spruce, please - we don't want more Forestry Commission-style bland industrial forestry). There are thousands of acres of aristocratic grouse-shooting estates all over the North Pennines and North Yorkshire, where trees are not allowed because they spoil all the fun of the chase. Wonderful places to plant some new trees, if the Tories really are suddenly into tree-planting.Catherine FrancisSkipton, North Yorkshire Continue reading...