Forum Topic

Is Wandsworth council chopping off trees quietly?

One gone by the cinema, another one on the north west end of Deodar Rd.I thought the idea was to have more trees, not less...

Marc Blanchard ● 1319d33 Comments

Although it's not directly related to trees I'd share this little nugget.The other week outside the council meeting we (XR Wandworth) gave out report cards to the councillors on how well we thought the council was doing. Interestingly councillor Guy Senior decided to have a go at us about the food waste collection trial, in the process of venting he admitted that the only reason the council was going ahead with the trial was because of 'you lot'.Whether it will translate into actual food waste collection borough wide is debatable but it does show that direct action has an impact.

Matt Palmer ● 1315d

That is correct Marc but it is not as green as it used to be or as it could be.We do not elect the councillors of the other boroughs nor can we change the past and what starting point they have concerning tree population. We can only acknowledge past mistakes, learn and take action to correct.Of course when we preach and try and change the behaviour of other countries it is useful to show that we are taking action too.Comparing how high your head is above the water to your neighbour isn't particularly useful when you are both drowning.

Ed Robinson ● 1315d

This is an interesting number. 62000 trees for 330000 residents, that's about 1 tree for 5 peopleGreater London : 9 million people, 8 million trees, almost 1 for 1looks like Wandsworth is a long way down the list of greenest boroughs

Marc Blanchard ● 1315d

I just like trees more than concrete, they're nice to look at.Trees are pretty good at keeping the street temperature down in summer, so they also contribute by reducing the energy needed by cars or shops air con systems.It might be marginal, but since I can't see any downside, I like having them around and the council should communicate better with local residents.

Marc Blanchard ● 1315d

The answer it would seem is that yes Wandsworth council is indeed cutting down trees almost without noticing via contractors incentivied to do so.New trees planted and left to their own devices die quite quickly.

Jenny Featherstone ● 1315d

You only have to look at the plans for York gardens to see that around 300 trees are being removed there alone. The net gain in trees across the borough is minimal.and who remembers this travesty?https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4927214/Wandsworth-Council-cuts-51-horse-chestnut-trees.html

Matt Palmer ● 1317d

The reason for scepticism is when you look at the cross-section of all the cut-down trees and see healthy wood surrounded by healthy bark in almost every caseAnd then there is the case of Sheffield council who outsourced tree-maintenance with a stupid contract that incentivised removal. The private company proceeded to cut down all the trees

Sean Hodges ● 1317d

Here is the WBC climate emergency action on trees. Which implies they did nothing for past decades. I'm not sure what the rate of trees dying or being removed is but this shows the response is completely inadequate."Spending £100,000 on trees across the next two years including planting 1000 new trees and maintaining our existing tree stock of 62,000"https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/news/campaigns/climate-change/together-on-nature/

Ed Robinson ● 1317d

Planting on average a tree a calendar day I think you may be overstating WBC investment in trees!

Ed Robinson ● 1317d

It's not just about the carbonhttps://www.fao.org/resources/infographics/infographics-details/en/c/411348/

Matt Palmer ● 1317d

A lot of people seem to think tree-loving is a great step against climate change. It's not, it's pretty much a waste of time. I love trees btw.Trees sequester carbon from the atmosphere, but only if the amount of forestation is growing. Otherwise, they make b***** all difference, particularly a few trees in an urban UK environment. Cutting back thousands of square miles for slash and burn agriculture might matter a little more.Essentially though, trees are part of a short-term carbon cycle, interfering with which is not the climate change villain. The actual villain  is messing with the long term carbon cycle - extracting fossil fuels from the ground and burning them. So your air travel, your petrol/diesel, your domestic electricity use, your construction, your continual purchases of unnecessary goods and unnecessary replacements, your choice of GHG-intensive foods like meat and air-lifted babycorn - these are what you should be worrying about. So no more blah blah blah please.

Michael Winstanley ● 1317d

Leaving a Private Contractor to manage Tree’s , is a Licence for them to commit  Tree Vandalism ( ie chop ‘em down  & replant) More Money !!!

Vic Condon ● 1318d

If there is space for planters perhaps they should have considered putting some trees there instead.Trees returning after 150 years would be good news.

Ed Robinson ● 1318d

Wandsworth and Richmond Councils have NOT merged. They share the same administration as a cost-cutting exercise but the two sets of councillors are wholly independent of each other. Each pursues its own policies and agendas.

Leslie McDonnell ● 1318d

Just looked back at that thread. I got told to “shut up” by a certain female regular of the forum for suggesting the shopkeeper got a brush and cleaned it themselves.

Freddie Francis ● 1318d

Richmond Council and Wandsworth Council have merged.

Barbara Stevens ● 1318d

Good work. Sadly at least one person in this forum thinks stuff like that is someone else’s job. As per the planters on the high street and the rusty mess coming out of the base of one or two. A suggestion that perhaps the shopkeeper, who if I recall complained to one of the members here, should clean it up seeing as it might affect business, was met with incredulity. So much for community.

Freddie Francis ● 1318d

Wonder if they ever ask residents near the new trees to look after them.  A neighbour and I regularly watered a new tree near us in an adjacent road about 3 or 4 years ago and it is still going strong. (Nobody asked us, we just thought it was a good idea.)

Judy Allen ● 1318d

Not sure if it's still the case but last year 'Enable' (the private contractor who looks after the trees) had precisely 1 man looking after the trees in the borough. Trees under 1 year old are supposed to be watered rather than rely solely on rain water (I confess I dont know why, that's just what he told me) and of course he has no way of making it regularly round the entire borough to do this.

Matt Palmer ● 1318d

Irrespective of why the tree was cut down WBC are not doing enough tree planting to keep the current tree population levels  never mind getting back to previous levels.Estimates vary but the average figure is 30% of newly planted trees die within the first year, never mind the second etc!

Ed Robinson ● 1318d

As no one believes the answer maybe theres no point them replying

Andy Pike ● 1318d

The council always claim trees they cut down were 'diseased' so there's little point asking them 

Sean Hodges ● 1318d

Nick: "nobody bothers to ask the council anything". Could that be because nobody at the council bothers to answer the phone?

Alexander MacLeod ● 1318d

Is that Richmond Councils bit ie SW13 as only 23 metres of Mill Hill Road is in SW15

Andy Pike ● 1318d

A lot of trees have been cut down on the Mill Hill Road, on the left going to Barnes. Perhaps they were dead.

Barbara Stevens ● 1319d

Ha Ha.I haven't see you at The Spencer for an age. Have you stopped drinking?

Nick Gulliford ● 1319d

I wonder how many of those newly planted trees are still alive?Your quite right Freddie deforestation never took place in Putney or Wandsworth or even the UK. It only happens in South America and Asia etc.The excellent BBC documentary on UK deforestation is well worth watching.

Ed Robinson ● 1319d

Fiends seems a bit harsh Nick! Yeah, looks like a right shambles though!I agree that sometimes the criticism of the council is unjustified, a tree was chopped very near me the other week but when I asked why I was told it was diseased. No idea if it's true but there's no real reason to think otherwise.That said though, (I can't remember the exact figures) the council was planning on planting around 500 trees this year which sounds impressive until you look deeper and see that they also killed 400 or so mature trees. Not so impressive then is it?

Matt Palmer ● 1319d

Well said FreddieNo one bothers to ask the council anything . They just moan about them. Numerous colleagues of mine moving boroughs claim Wandsworth to be easily the best run borough they’ve lived in.A little trek down to Brighton to see the Green Party run Brighton where Rubbish hasn’t been collected for months and lines the streets and roads?!!!!!!Matt have you heard about the Brighton debacle run by your Green Party fiends?

Nick Gulliford ● 1319d

Why don’t you ask them, the council, the people responsible for the trees and public safety, instead of making baseless, emotionally loaded accusations here.I don’t think a couple of trees in Putney are covered by rules on deforestation.

Freddie Francis ● 1319d

The UK has signed up to the Cop 26 Forests and Land use declaration. It will be interesting to see what action is taken.https://ukcop26.org/glasgow-leaders-declaration-on-forests-and-land-use/There is an interesting video on BBC iPlayer on the UK's deforestation.

Ed Robinson ● 1319d

"aiming to be the greenest borough in London"

Matt Palmer ● 1319d

Yes, the Council has been chopping trees everywhere and continue to do so without shame!I wonder what happen to the environmental sustainable standards they proclaimed to follow?  Lost in translation, perhaps?

Ivonne Holliday ● 1319d