It was at the confluence of seven forest paths that Allison Sweetman came to a stop, surrounded by trees that have stood for centuries. This is Seven Wents, part of Oaken Wood in Kent, a 40-hectare (100-acre) patch of ancient woodland that developers want to raze for the stone beneath. Kent county council, now led by Reform, has voted to include it in their mineral sites plan, effectively marking it as a potential quarry expansion site. The council insists this isn't planning permission yet - just a polite way of saying, 'We've earmarked your forest for destruction.'

Continuously wooded since at least 1600, Oaken Wood is a plantation on ancient woodland site (PAWS), meaning it's an ancient forest that has been replanted. For centuries, it's been worked as a sweet chestnut coppice, with sections felled in rotation. Sweetman, a Green party councillor, notes that these coppiced trees absorb more carbon than fully grown ones and their roots help manage surface water. The wood is also home to dormice, nightjars, owls, and a mycorrhizal network that's been building for aeons - basically a subterranean social network for trees.

What's beneath the soil is Kentish ragstone, quarried since Roman times and used in landmarks like the Tower of London and Canterbury Cathedral. The council argues it's essential for conservation of ancient buildings. Campaigners counter that prioritizing built heritage over living nature is a bit like saving your hat while your house burns down. The council declined to comment, likely because 'we're destroying a forest for rocks' doesn't sound great in a press release.

Gallagher Group, which runs the adjacent Hermitage quarry, plans to 'translocate and retain' the soil - dig it up and move it elsewhere. The 'non-native' chestnut trees (which have been in the UK since the Romans, so basically honorary natives) would be replaced with more than double the planting of native woodland. Campaigners are skeptical, noting that moving topsoil isn't the same as preserving a living ecosystem. 'It's not [just] the soil, it's a living system,' said councillor Rachel Rodwell.

Last year, over 25,000 people voiced concerns in a consultation. The Woodland Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust are opposed. Maidstone borough council is set to pass a rights of nature motion. As the group walked toward the existing quarry, the sounds of machinery grew louder, and the air filled with exhaust and rock dust. A dead shrew lay on the ground. 'You can breathe it, you can smell it, you can feel it in your lungs,' Rodwell said. In minutes, they'd gone from sylvan idyll to a war zone against nature.

'We're treating nature as a commodity or a resource and we're forgetting we're part of the same system,' Rodwell added. 'It's replicated across the country, across the globe.'