The complainant filed a complaint with ASI on September 8, 2021, about the responses from Soil Association Certification Limited, the Conformity Assessment Body (CAB), to two separate complaints that they had submitted to the CAB in June 2021. Both complaints involve a single felling site managed by Coillte Teoranta Irish Forestry Board, the Certificate Holder (CH) in the northwest of Ireland.
Complaint 1 was about if an ornithological assessment had been conducted prior to commencement of operations. This complaint asserted a “failure to carry out adequate pre-works ecological/ornithological assessment” for “an ecologically sensitive site”, and the absence of a plan to protect the ecologically sensitive area. Furthermore, they asserted that the Habitat Map for the licence did not show the adjacent Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). The complaint referred to the potential for disturbance of protected species during the period of breeding and rearing.
Complaint 2 was about breaches of standards and felling licence conditions during the felling and harvesting operations. The complainant provided documents and photos from the site.
https://www.asi-assurance.org/sfc/servlet.shepherd/version/download/068S700000Jtm9AIAR-10