Mature and healthy trees to be removed tomorrow on King's Drive estate due to subsidence damage to council block.

 

The tree on left is close to a block (out of picture) but the one on the right is far away from any block. 

I have waxed lyrical on this blog before about the beauty of the King's Drive council estate in Wembley with its mature trees. Carved out of a corner of the lower slopes of Barn Hill the council planners of the time left a numbr of mature trees.

With little notice and no formal consultation notices went up last week asking residents to move cars from the car park  due to tree works incuding tree removal. There were no details of which trees were to be removed but today notices from Brent Council and Grist and Toms were fixed to trees:

 

 

One of the ash trees assumed to be removed - near the block

 

The other ash tree is well away from the block on a mound

I assume this is the horse chestnut to be removed at the rear of the block

I contacted Brent Council and they passed on an email from Gary Rimmer, Brent Trees Officer who said that that the works had been commissioned directly by Brent Housing Management from Brent Council's  contractors Gristwood and Toms, following internal investigation into subsidence damage to the block. A third party arbocultural report had suggested the removal of two ash trees and one horse chestnut. Anecdotally there appeared to have been concerns from tenants and leaseholders within the flats and enquiries to councillors about the issue. I visited a neighbour in the block this afternoon and there is no doubt that there are subsidence issues.

My email to the council was also sent to councillors but so far there has been no response. 

Gary Rimmer added that he was willing to talk to me about replacements for these trees and planting elsewhere on the estate. Clearly the canopy of these trees is very large and will take years to replace in terms of their shade, air cooling, air cleaning, flood mitigation and aesthetic amenity value.

Clearly the case raises several issues including public notice, consultation and publication of evidence. Very importantly we need evidence that alternative approaches had been considered including reduction of the trees or underpinning of the block, and of course control of the trees over the years through crown reduction.

When I went to take photographs for this article this afternoon a young neighbour was chasing her nephew near the ash tree. When she heard what was to happen to the trees she said, 'They can't do that. It's the trees that make this estate so special.' 

I asked Brent Parks Forum, a member of Brent Tree Champions and ACE Brent for a comment: 

The Tree Canopy Campaign state that  in some cases poor foundations get disturbed by tree root  removal, especially of established significant trees such as Ashes -  Fraxinus excelsior which could lead to heave ( lifting)  due to no water uptake from the felled trees,  and then as the roots die you get further subsidence that would still render a building in need of being  underpinned.

https://canopy.org.uk/threat/subsidence-advice