There are two parts to the Council plans for the Downs and Avon Gorge:
In November 2006 the Council and Natural England published a draft management plan for the Avon Gorge. In it, under the heading "A 50 Year Vision", they put forward a proposal for the future design of the Avon Gorge (and Downs) landscape:
The map shows how the above scheme will involve cutting down huge swathes of the trees enclosed within the yellow lines. And another scheme to cut down all the trees around Observatory Hill is soon to be implemented if fierce local opposition does not succeed in putting a stop to it. The green markers point to aspects of the plan on various parts of the map.
When Bristol Downswatch informed the local media of the intended tree clearances proposed by the the 2006 management plan the public outcry that resulted caused a halt to the felling that was getting underway in Walcombe Slade and the "Draft Managment Plan" was withdrawn. The redrafted plan, published in 2009, avoids contentious issues like tree felling and concentrates on consolidating tree clearance "gains" in Walcombe Slade by fencing the area to enclose goats. Although to fence the Downs contravenes the Downs Act and is therefore both illegal and beyond the powers of the Downs Committee, the Council and Natural England would appear to be determined to go ahead with it. We are told that only a few more trees will need to be cut down to put the goat pen in place.
Walcombe Slade Yew tree marked for felling.
It is clear that the Council and Natural England intend to proceed bit by bit with management proposals for the Avon Gorge henceforth in order to avoid public opposition to large scale tree clearance. However a scrutiny of the Natural England website (see here, look at the assessment dates), reveals that the ambitious clearance plans set out in the 2006 management plan are still extant. According to this, the entire stretch of woodland from Cookes Folly Wood (Unit 11) to St Vincent's Rocks (Unit 17) is designated as an SSSI because of grassland species, and is considered to be in "unfavourable condition" simply because it is woodland, and unsuitable for grassland species. Since Natural England are required by Government to maintain the sites that they manage in a "favourable condition" it must follow that they still propose felling large areas of woodland on the Avon Gorge sides, as they proposed in the 2006 plan.
If you wish to see what all this will involve look at the north slope of the Gully - or the Samuel Johnson picture reproduced on the Observatory Hill poster.