The Green Party's parliamentary candidate for Brent Central, Shaka Lish, has challenged Brent Council about the felling of trees in Gladstone Park.
Accusing Brent Council of an act of 'wilful vandalism' she asked, 'What is the point of cutting down our beautiful, healthy, ancient trees?' She asked if the Council had any plans to replace them.
At the recent Brent Clean Air meeting at the Civic Centre, Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt, extolled the benefits of trees to combat air pollution but a closer examination shows this may be no more than hot air.
A Freedom of Information request by Wembley Matters LINK established that Brent Council keeps no records of trees lost, felled and replaced in its parks and that none of the 62 trees removed on Brent Housing Partnership estates Jan 1st-Dec 31st 2016 had been replaced.
Parks maintenance is contracted out to Veolia as part of the Public Realm contract and Gristwood and Toms is contracted to deal with trees over a specific height.
It's ironic given all the above that Brent Council has received a Forestry Commission London's Trees and Woodland Award LINK:
Borough Tree Award - Brent Council Tree Planting Project, Sudbury Town, Barn Hill, Harlesden and Kensal Green
The Trees and Development Award: Wembley Park – Arena Square and Wembley Park Boulevard. Market Square (meantime planting). Quintain, London Borough of Brent
Trees have fallen in King Eddies V11 Park and or have been removed, with no explanation as to why. Interestingly on P100 of the Wembley Masterplan for regeneration under the heading Natural Environment and Street Trees it clearly states Brent Council are committed to planting £1,000 Trees! However, if there are no records being kept, who knows? It makes one wonder how many trees have been used to make all the glossy brochures the Brent Council have produced over the years let alone the amount of paper wasted printing and copying documents that have already been scanned into their system with the idea being to reduce paper consumption in order to become more sustainable and "Green". They seem to have forgot their tag line of recent years "A Cleaner, Greener Brent".
ReplyDeleteAlthough there was a recent "good news" story about tree planting (in Elms Lane, Sudbury) in a comment on my "guest blog" about "the Wembley Elm", at:
ReplyDeletehttp://wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/the-wembley-elm-why-is-it-special.html
this looks more like my reference, in my latest comment there, to one of "The Great Trees of London", referred to in a book of that name, where only 56 of the 61 trees awarded that title (41 in 1997 and 20 in 2008) were still standing when it was published in 2010:
'... the large stump of “the Kingston Weeping Silver Lime” is pictured, after the local council removed the tree ‘for health and safety reasons’.'
I wonder if Brent Council will come up with the same excuse?
Philip.
Just for information, the Chiltern cutting between Sudbury/Harrow Road and Wembley Stadium is currently having most of the Sycamore and Ash tree's being cut down to prevent trees and leaves falling on to the line. However, some of the much more mature tree's closer to the fencing are also being felled. This will be taking place over the next 3 weeks, I will photograph the difference when it has happened.
ReplyDeleteJust for information, the Chiltern cutting between Sudbury/Harrow Road and Wembley Stadium is currently having most of the Sycamore and Ash tree's being cut down to prevent trees and leaves falling on to the line. However, some of the much more mature tree's closer to the fencing are also being felled. This will be taking place over the next 3 weeks, I will photograph the difference when it has happened.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jaine.
DeleteSo glad that this issue is being aired. I have walked my dog in Gladstone Park every day for past 5 years and was never aware of the tree pruning and felling in the park until late spring 2017, since when the sound of the electric saw has been heard almost every day. Something has changed. The men with the machines say that they are doing what they are told to do. I understand that Brent employed a tree consultant to draw up a plan and this years attacks on the trees in the park is the result. Every day I think that they must have finished by now but no, I hear that saw again. If no record is kept of the trees lost to this activity then how can anyone know when this destructive plan is completed? The first picture gives only part of the story. The ragged stump of the huge tree shown was being cut down when it fell sideways and took half of the neighbouring mature oak tree with it. Even more damage.
ReplyDelete