Agenda item

The Panel received a presentation which provided an update around Queen’s Wood, Parkland Walk, street trees, funding for new trees and staffing resources within the Trees team. The presentation was introduced by Simon Farrow, Highways, Parking, Parks & Open Spaces Manager as set out in the agenda pack at pages 9-18. Alex Fraser, Principal Tree & Nature Conservation Manager, was also present for this agenda item. Cllr Hakata, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and the Climate Emergency and Deputy Leader of the Council, was also present for this agenda item. The following arose during the discussion of the presentation:

a.    The Panel sought clarification around the number of trees removed in a year. The Panel noted that the presentation stated that 191 trees had been removed in the previous year, whilst the budget papers for agenda Item 9, suggested that it was 300. In response officers advised that 191 was an average, but that that the service had been removing more trees, particularly due to a backlog associated with Covid. Officers clarified that 191 related to removal of street trees whilst the 300 figure included trees in parks and open spaces.

b.    A Panel Member  welcomed the fact that the Trees team was up to full strength but raised concerns around a failure to respond to a specific enquiry for five months. Officers offered their apologies for the failure to respond and advised that the service had been operating at 40% capacity for some time.

c.    The Panel noted that in relation to Parkland Walk, one of the key lessons learnt was around contractors cutting down trees that were beyond the scope of the works and assurances were sought that rigorous monitoring of contractors was taking place. In response, officers advised that the team had undergone a fundamental restructure and that contract monitoring was much more robust. Officers advised that they did not think that previous mistakes in this regard would be replicated.

d.    In relation to a question around capital funding, officers advised that the existing capital provision from LBH was £70k for tree planting, but that there was further provision for up to £30k in the budget for match funding.

e.    In relation to concerns about Queens Wood, officers advised that the decision to remove the trees was done to mitigate the Council’s financial risk from an insurance claim and that it was felt that it was within the Council’s interests to mitigate this exposure otherwise they would have potentially been liable for hundreds of thousands of pounds. In relation to a follow up, officers advised that in a similar situation in the future, they would still be minded to remove four out of the five trees, due to the potential cost exposure and the legal advice that they had received.

f.     In relation to a question around trees being felled as part of the bridge replacement works at Stanhope Gardens, officers advised that the new bridge had to be higher than the old one, and that the construction works would kill the affected trees, so a decision had been taken to remove those trees before weeks commenced. It was noted that Planning Permission for those works had been granted the week before.

g.    In relation to concerns about the types of trees planted, officers advised that they typically sought to plant trees that were easy to maintain, suitable to their environment and not prone to particular diseases. This included consideration of proactively trying to improve maintenance costs or the likely impact of a particular type of tree, on a particular location. Officers advised that they effectively had a list of trees to use and that these were much suitable that some of the trees that were planted three or four generations ago.

h.    Officers agreed to provide the Panel with a written response on the felling of trees on Stationers Park as well as the felling of trees in Finsbury Park and the extent to which the impact on wildlife was considered. (Action: Simon Farrow/Alex Fraser).

i.      In relation to a particular case involving some large trees near the Roundway, officers advised that regular maintenance was carried out on those trees and that they did look at replacing certain trees with more suitable ones in particular locations.

j.      The Chair advised that she would like to see a cost analysis about how much money was spent on mitigating insurance claims against how much was spent on tree maintenance. (Action: Simon Farrow/Alex Fraser).

k.    The Chair also raised concerns about the discrepancy in tree coverage between, the west and the east of the borough and was concerned that the replacement works and tree sponsorship seemed to be disproportionately focused on the west of the borough and would exacerbate the existing disparity. The Chair requested a breakdown of the number of trees on a ward by-ward basis. (Action: Simon Farrow/Alex Fraser).

RESOLVED

That the update in relation to trees was noted.