Dear all,
new trees have finally been planted in our ward last week ! You may be aware that there has not been funding for tree planting in the past years and only this year new funding has been allocated to plan trees in wards with less than 20% canopy , and this does not inlcude our ward. We Councillors have managed to secure in he last ward budget ( 2019) to fund the planting of 15 trees, giving prioriy to sites where trees were removed in the past years. Trees were ready to be planted last March but works were postponed due COVID-19.
The new tres have been planted in Victoria Road, Clyde Road, Dukes Avenue, Elms Avenue, Rosebery Road, Gravenor Road Thirlmere Avenue , and are mostly a mix of Ginkgo biloba , Betula albosinensis Pink Champagne and Prunus Royal Burgundy.
Also, I have seen some comments on the website about trees in Dagmar Road, so I would like to take the opportunity to provide an udpate on the trees that were removed last February in Dagmar Road along the railway line as I got in contact in February with the Managing Director at the Network Rail Eastern Region, that manages the Hertford North line to King's Cross. Unfortunately with all goin on with COVID-19 and the initial emergency things were put on hold, so I got in contact again and I have been told that the team woudl have looked at the possibility to re-install some biodiversity there. I will keep you posted on the developments.
Even if a drop in the ocean, our ward has one of the higest numbers of trees removed in the Borough ,these are positive news, and as your Cuncillors we will continue pressing and campaigning for more trees in our ward.
Replies
Dear all,
a couple of updates on tree planting in our ward:
Some of you may be aware that the Haringey Environment and Community Safety Panel has discussed an update last November on the Council Tree Planting Programme. (https://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/documents/s118950/Report%20Envi...) . As there was no mention of including our ward in the planting tree programme , despite the heavy loss in trees over the years, I have made some inquiries and I am glad to report that it was an administartive error and that Alexandra will be inlcuded in the Tree Planting programme next year. This is the full answer to my inquiry:
'An administrative error meant the Alexandra ward was missed out of the statement at section 5.1 in the report. I can clarify that Alexandra, Fortis Green and Stroud Green wards will be prioritised for tree planting during winter 2021/22. Surveying to identify potential locations for new trees in Alexandra ward will take place August – September 2021, we will share the list with ward members once it has been completed.'
With respect to tree planting along the railway line in Dagmar Road, Network Rail has provided the assessment below after an onsite survey, comments and feedback most welcome
Councillor Rossetti,
Thank you again for getting in touch, and please accept my apologies for the delay in responding whilst my team reviewed our recent work adjacent to Dagmar Road.
After you got in touch in November I asked my team to visit site and consider anything further we could do to reinstate biodiversity adjacent to the railway. A biodiversity specialist has now visited and has reported that the lineside has changed significantly since the work was completed.
When we carried out the work we did it in a way that would encourage vegetation on the ground and smaller trees in the area – which can be more easily maintained near to the railway – to flourish.
Over the course of this year this has meant that we’ve seen greater vegetation growing at ground level. This has included wild flowers starting to grow, a new habitat for ground nesting birds, small mammals and reptiles, and log piles which can be used by insects.
When we carried out the work we also left many of the smaller trees in place. A number of these, including Ash and Sycamore trees, are now between 3 feet and 5 feet tall. These will continue to grow more quickly than introducing new trees to the area. Whilst we will need to maintain these in line with railway standards, we are confident that we can do that sympathetically and enable these trees to continue to grow.
I know that this doesn’t specifically involve replanting new trees. I hope it explains why the work we did was carried out in the way that it was, and that we expect to see trees and other vegetation continue to grow back on our land adjacent to Dagmar Road.
Hi Alessandra,
good to read this update.
I'm prompted to write today because we've just been watching another of the street trees in Lansdowne Road being removed. Over the last few months a number of the street trees in the road have been cut down, leaving almost none still standing.
I wanted to ask if there are any concrete plans to replace these trees? There has been quite a bit of conversation on the street chat group about this with various options being proposed however it would be useful to know what if any plans there may be for Lansdowne Road specifically.
Thanks in advance
John Clarke
Dear John,
Thank you for getting in touch. Councillors ususally receive notifications about trees to be removed, but I have not found any notification about Lansdowne Road , so I have made some enquiries anad hope to receiev an answer within 10 working days. With the recent planting from the ward budget we have asked the Council to give priority to replanting where trees were removed if possible. I know that the Council has a list of vacant pit so it should be possible to indicate this as a priority when the planting programme will resume, if conditions of the ground allows.
I hope this helps, in the meantime these are the latest news I have received in January:
We were recently awarded funding through the new Urban Tree Challenge Fund (DEFRA/GLA) for 584 new trees to be planted in Haringey during the 2020/21 planting season.
The criteria for the funding is that the new trees must be planted in the 9 wards in Haringey with less than 20% existing canopy cover. These are mainly in the east of the borough.
Our priority is to plant replacement trees in vacant tree pits. However, under the terms of the grant, we are not permitted to plant trees in pits that have been vacant for less than 3 years, which is unfortunate
Between 2008–2016, we were allocated a capital budget and secured additional external funding, which did allow us to have a planned approach to planting new and replacement street trees. However, for the past 4 years, new street trees have only been planted during footway refurbishment schemes or through public sponsorship.
In April 2020, our capital budget for tree planting was re-instated after a 4 year absence, so we are now planning to re-start out street tree replacement programme. It is likely that the Alexandra ward will be targeted during winter 2021/22 and we will be prioritising planting replacement street trees in the ward at this time. If funding allows, we will also look at where we can introduce new trees.
I have received a respose from Haringey Council about the tree ( I attach it below), with th epictures I have received). Mixed news, unfortunately the tree was colonised by a decay fungus but the Highway department have agreed to plan a replacement if the pit is ready .
Hope this is useful to you and your neighbours, please get back in touch if I can assist further,
Alessandra
We were asked to inspect this tree for potential root pruning works to mitigate disturbance to the footway and a refurbishment of the adjacent crossover. It was noted that the tree had been colonised by a decay fungus (Ganoderma sp), which causes extensive decay of the lower trunk and root plate area making the trees liable to fail at or near ground level. The inspecting officer decided the tree could not be retained in its current condition and the necessary root pruning would have increased the likelihood of failure.
The Highways dept have agreed to fund a replacement tree being planted this spring and we are awaiting on them confirming the tree pit is ready.
Congratulations on what will seem to some a very small achievement, but is actually quite a large one.
Juliet Solomon (ex-councillor, Alex)
Great news.
Thanks for the post Alessandra - really delighted to see the trees being planted!
Always want to see more trees, and I also wanted to share Haringey Council's tree sponsorship scheme - Link here.
Nick,
Thanks for posting the tree sponsorship scheme. I am going to ask people in my road if they are interested.
That's great news, thanks, Alessandra. I remember residents of Victoria road were particularly concerned about trees being removed.