Kevin Pressland: Tree trunks pile up at Ramsgate Port

Green Councillor Kevin Pressland is a passionate campaigner for nature and the natural environment.  His understanding of the threats faced by the natural world is based on expertise gained from a 40-year career in horticulture, garden design and sustainable land management:

Some four years ago Ofgem in an audit highlighted Discovery Park were burning trees from Old Growth Forests from Eastern Europe. It was claimed this was an error of judgement and that the wood is now from offcuts from commercial forestry in the UK.

I believe this import, now standing in the Ramsgate Port, clearly shows this is not the case, all these tree trunks are, to my knowledge, bought in by eastern European number plate trucks. Attempts to gain understanding of where these trees are from have achieved no response from Thanet council. Unless we see a clear audit trail for these tree trunk imports, which are not offshoots from commercial forestry, what are we supposed to think?

This government, as have previous governments, have continued to back mass commercial wood biomass facilities. Just announced in 2026 worth £1 billion plus for Lynemouth Wood Biomass Facility to burn YES, more trees and woody materials (given through Department of Climate Change and Net Zero 9th July 2026).

Drax received £893m in subsidies in 2021 for burning forest biomass, with over £11 billion expected from 2012 to 2027, despite no guaranteed climate benefit and higher energy bills.

There is evidence that trees from old growth forests have also been burnt at this facility as highlighted by the work of the Dogwood Alliance and the campaign group Biofuelwatch and Stop Burning Trees Coalition that has lots of evidence to back their claims.

As wildfires rage across the UK and Europe, it increasingly shows natures vulnerability and how it will affect people, communities and economies too. This has been exacerbated by our society’s current addiction to fossil fuels and a linear approach to other policies, namely backing commercial wood biomass facilities and petrochemical based plastics. This is instead of supporting, encouraging the stable, viable compostable alternatives which can then be used if infrastructure were created for bio facilities for this compostable packaging which would produce compost whilst create energy and build soil fertility. Is that not part of a better growth model?

Although new in his post Andy Burnham Prime Minister, I urge you, please be bold, courageous and do much more than ban disposable barbecues. I urge our Prime Minister to see the urgency and the stupidity of policies that are exacerbating the climate change and ecological crisis. We surely cannot allow vested interests who lobby parliament profusely to determine the future rather than governments that truly do what’s right for future generation, biodiversity, farming, water and soil health, vibrant economies based on true full systems thinking.

TDC, Department of Trade and your local MP Polly Billington (who is in her new post as Under Secretary for Climate Change and Net Zero) need to know people want this information and want to know where these tree trunks come from, that are currently on the Ramsgate Port. In her current role I hope Polly will lobby/urge her department to start thinking in a truly full systems way rather than the current linear approach, bowing to the interests of big business. Will you do this Polly?

How else could this supposed waste wood be used? It could be used in the locality of its origin to build soil fertility. It could produce charcoal or biochar (pending type of wood), Biochar enhances soil life and soil stability and carbon sequestration, biodiversity is also enhanced as wood is an important element for woodland and forestry health in benefitting fungi, beetles etc, whilst addressing clear management to counter potential wildfires.

It would also stop mass transport to commercial biomass facilities reducing carbon and particulate matter emissions.

These approaches would increase soil carbon and the reality is soil carbon due to bad land management for decades accentuated by the use of artificial fertilisers has caused mass decline in soil health. Yes, the very soil food is produced from, water is filtered, biodiversity is enhanced, economies and life rely on etc.

A January 2026 report by the Government’s own Environment Agency has highlighted this reality.

In the report, entitled Summary of the State of Environment, it says:

• over 2 million hectares of soil is at risk of erosion
• intensive agriculture has caused arable soils to lose about 40 to 60% of their organic carbon
• soil degradation was calculated in 2010 to cost £1.2 billion every year

Compaction and the loss of organic carbon are serious threats to soil health. They affect agricultural production and our resilience to climate change. UK soils currently store about 10 billion tonnes of carbon. This is roughly equal to 80 years of annual UK greenhouse gas emissions.

Wasting food and growing crops for bioenergy are putting additional pressure on soils.

Spreading of some materials to land is poorly controlled and can give rise to contamination. Some 300,000 hectares are contaminated in the UK. Microplastics are widespread in soil with unknown consequences.

These are all issues that governments of any party should be addressing and sadly this is not happening as a matter of urgency because governments seem to be reluctant to challenge the status quo. Polly Billington MP can you please act on these realities?