The Invisible Tree

Pic: Courtesy of RARE

For my Moment of Joy this week I'm sharing the story of the Invisible Tree which has just won the NI branch (excuse the pun) of the Tree of the Year competition.  Read more here ....

http://www.irishnews.com/…/sessile-oak-tree-in-rostrevor-c…/

A while back I wrote a piece about a building project that was being proposed on the edge of the forest where the council overturned their own planners advice and allowed the project to go ahead in spite of no proper traffic assessment or assessment on the danger to the animals and trees in the forest.  As it turns out, the site was afterwards put up for sale and the planning permission was listed as being suitable for changing to alternate purposes.   In other words, the original plans to build a nursing home and some luxury apartments was a ruse - no nursing home will ever turn up there.

Rostrevor Action Respecting the Environment (R.A.R,E) started a campaign and took it as far as the High Court to get the plans at the very least reduced in size, but a high court judge ruled in favour of the builder.

Not deterred, RARE carried on with a much more successful action, focussing on this tree that was left off the plans along with a right of way.   Now The Invisible Tree and the story is getting worldwide attention and the site is still not sold - there are many ways to skin a cat ...