Shadow Environment spokesman Gary Pitman has attacked opposite number Arthur Hodgson for implying it was OK to axe woodland as long as planting was kept up.

Mr. Hodgson said in a statement of planning policy given to The Royal Gazette : "Woodlands and trees are a beautiful and valuable resource but they are not sacred.

"With the support of the community and the ministry we have collected 100,000 cedar berries for planting in the last few months.

"However we do not hesitate in permitting the removal of trees when it is dictated by the requirements for sustainable development. "Fortunately, during the past year, whenever there has been a decision to allow the removal of trees we have been able to incorporate protection for other trees. Since assuming office last year there has been no net loss of woodland.'' Mr. Pitman said: "With his views on sustainable development I would have thought he would have been very concerned about open spaces and preserving woodland trees -- I am very concerned by this.

"I'm not happy to see he's giving out these token 100,000 cedar berries and then he can go and allow building on woodland reserve and act at his will.'' National Trust Environment Committee Chairwoman Edith Martin said: "Contrary to what the minister would have us believe, his recent pro-development decisions, of which the National Trust has complained, are not environmentally sustainable.

"For the Minister to suggest that planting cedar berries and saplings is an acceptable solution to the chopping down of mature woodland shows a fundamental misunderstanding of our ecology.

"It is a frightening distortion to state there has been no net loss of woodlands, because berries and samplings have been planted.

"Furthermore, without proper legal protection in place, there is no guarantee that a newly-planted area will not be shortly built over.'' Mrs. Martin then referred to a controversial decision in December where acting Environment Minister Nelson Bascome overruled an independent inspector and approved a plan to destroy mature cedars at Mr. Hodgson's own church - Crawl Gospel Hall.

She said: "To the best of my knowledge, neither the Crombie trust decision, nor the Crawl Gospel Hall decisions imposed any requirement on the developer to enter into a section 34 agreement to protect another portion of the site from development.

"Had the Minister truly wanted to balance his pro-development decisions with environmental interests, the very least he could have done was to invoke section 34 of the Development and Planning Act.'' Mr. Hodsgon also said in his statement that The Bermuda Plan was not set in concrete and pointed out that the Environment Minister could use his discretion.

Mr. Pitman said: "It seems the minister has made it very clear he doesn't consider himself in any way bound or curtailed by the Bermuda Plan.

"It's sad news, not just for environmentalists but for everyone with an interest in the environment. "The rules can be bent or broken. They may be enforced for some and not for others.

Mr. Pitman said people would perceive special favours and dispensation were being given to the Minister's friends.

He said: "This is a dangerous road to be taken by the minister.'' However Mr. Hodgson hit back at his critics. He said: "One of the problems with the National Trust is that they only object to things. They don't have solutions to problems.

"If someone wants to build a house they will say where it can't be built but not where it can. I have to find solutions and one of the solutions is planting trees.

"We need to have more woodland and I am surprised anyone would attack the planting of more trees.'' But Mr. Hodgson accepted the point that it took years for berries to mature into trees.

He said: "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. My job as a Minister is to look forward. It's about sustainable development. I don't want to prejudice the options of future generations.'' And he took issue with Mr. Pitman for saying he was riding roughshod over the Bermuda Plan and said he was working with laws put in by the last Government.

Gary Pitman