Save Penarth Trees

The Council's policy of street trees is in disarray.  They are supposed to plant replacements for trees removed, but the officers continually claim no budget for it.  Last year's policy review was unfinished (only 35% through it, they say) and it seems they don't want to admit the loss of trees at an alarming rate under the present leadership.

The Augusta Road horse-chestnut tree shows their failure.  After previous pollarding it grew back well, but the latest pollarding left harmful wounds, say consultants. The Council have laid tarmac around the base of the tree, stopping rainwater penetration, quite contrary to sense and official guidance.  The adjacent householder have paved the whole frontage, rather than running the rainwater into nearby soil, contrary to "sustainable urban drainage" policy. Why did the Council not require a tree-friendly solution to this?  No wonder the tree was growing longer roots in search of water, despite the reduction that pollarding normally achieves.   

Replanting a tree in a root-cage, airily suggested by officers, is quite inappropriate where homes are set back well from the pavement.  It's just their latest excuse for not replanting.  A small replacement sappling or two, to match most trees in the street, would find their own route through the roots of a dead chestnut tree.  The naked house frontage is quite out-of-keeping with the street; new trees can at least soften this.  Sustainable urban drainage points to creating a grassy bed here, taking a bit of roadway and using it as a soakaway.

There was no urgency to remove this tree. The costly consultants' reports talk only of possible future liabilities.  Many street trees in Penarth would vanish under such a weak excuse.  Already Trees have been removed in Arcot Street where there was once 50 trees. Originally over 70 trees (35 each side) were planted along Plassey Street at approximately 15 yard intervals. Only 24 now remain  – leaving 46 missing trees. Trees in Westbourne Road and Windsor Road vanished and have not been replaced.

13 Augusta Road tree breaks free
 inspite of huge cost of grinding
out stump   

Costing for 1 tree at 13 Augusta Road, Penarth

13 Augusta Road, Penarth. The cost to carry out the removal of one mature
Horechestnut tree and grind out the stump  £*
13 Augusta Road, Penarth. The cost to carry Arboricultural Reports  -
report 1 - £326.40, report 2 - £*
13 Augusta Road, Penarth. The cost for repair to the pavement after
grinding out the stump £707-85.
This cost does not include officer time as this was the subject of a
complaint and Stage 1 +2. 
(Vale council - I have not disclosed this information for the removal of the tree or the
second report as the cost would be a payment to a third party, based on afee provided to the council in confidence.)

Trees on the escarpment have been brutally chopped down/’coppiced’ yet the council refuse to answer questions on the huge cost  of tree removal or reveal their tree plans for the future.  

Now there is an application to fell - Horse chestnut, 3x Sycamores, Holm Oak- 2 Cherry, Sycamore-fell, located at Main Building, Headlands School, St Augustine's Road, Penarth from Mitie Landscapes Ltd, 2,Colwick Quays, Colwick Quay Bus Park, Colwick. The decision has been delegated to officers and is due on 17^th August 2016

Augusta Tree Story here 

 

BEFORE Escarpment Penarth Trees felled -
giving new properties a great new view but visible
and bleak looking from now from Cardiff Bay

AFTER Escarpment Penarth Trees felled -
not felled, 'coppiced' says Lis Burnett

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