Trees v New Developments

In any city, the planting of new trees can sometimes bring a conflict of interests. If your parked car is covered in lime sap, bird excrement or blossom petals "embedding" onto paintwork you may not like other citizens call for more and more trees to be planted in the urban scene. In spite of a widely held belief, mature trees  actually contribute to global warming by emitting high levels of CO2.

Some residents in Cobden Crescent SO18 4EX have had to replace drains from their houses on 2 or 3 occasions in the last 8 years at great expense as two trees planted by the council on a traffic island  in the nearby road persist in rooting into the drainage.

In other cases trees that have contributed to the local landscape for some years may be under threat from new developments. In some cases the planning department urge the developer to retain "landmark" or rarer species. In most cases the developer has to supply new trees or landscaping as a compensation but even this does not satisfy all tree lovers.

The proposal by SCC to remove trees from the Watts Park in case the roots caused damage to the Cenotaph brought protests including some protesters climbing into the tree branches. The Cenotaph and the tree had lived in harmony since 1920 so to the amateur view, the proposal to remove the tree should have been made 80 odd years ago. Following the protests the council withdrew its proposal.

Image courtesy Residents.Action@aol.com

Hammersons the developer has proposals for the West Quays Stage III which may mean that the trees near the City Walls would be under threat.

The Planning Officer has issued the statement to local residents:

"The proposal is for a large scale mixed use development of retail, leisure, food and drink uses, residential and possibly a hotel. The detailed design of the ‘open areas’ around the buildings has not yet been finalised but is likely to involve the removal of the majority of the existing trees along Western Esplanade, with the exception of two large trees adjoining The Quays, the creation of a hard paved City Plaza (as required by Local Plan policy) and a green landscaped area in place of part of The Quays Car Park. The details of new and replacement tree planting is not yet known but Hammerson are aware of the Council’s usual approach towards replacement tree planting.

The planning application will be accompanied by various specialist reports in the form of a full Environmental Impact Assessment which will include information on trees, landscaping and ecological issues. The application will need to clearly specify which trees will be removed as part of the development. The loss of trees will be one of many important planning issues which the Council will need to assess before deciding the planning application. The process will be the same as for other planning applications with public consultation involving access to all the application documentation and consideration by the Planning Panel in open session ".

 
Images courtesy Residents.Action@aol.com

A formal outline planning application was submitted to SCC in April 2009 and against the advice of the council Tree Officer that the trees should be retained a decision was made to allow the developer to remove them save two Plane trees.