Something that makes us stand out is our leafy tree lined roads – it attracts people to live here.

From above, it’s wonderful – from down below, some of our trees are causing problems. Many were planted a hundred years ago - fast growing, inexpensive (they were seeded in the council’s own green houses) and would thrive in the air pollution of the time. May of them are now more than twice the height of the homes they used to complement.

Reported problems:
• blocking out light - having your lights on in rooms in the day time is expensive and causes some people to feel ’sad’ due to a loss of natural light
• leaves constantly blocking drain pipes – fine only if you are fit and able to clean your gutters yourself on a regular basis
• roots causing pavement and walls to crack – as the tree tries to thrive where its base is covered with tarmac or flags

Uneven pavements then cause trip and fall hazards for my residents – and broken bones don’t always heal well as you get older! Trees that obscure street lights make walking at night a problem and people then feel unsafe.

The Council’s tree officer told me that its impossible to look after all of the highway trees effectively within a tight budget and so he literally works on the could-be dangerous ones and prunes the others as best they are able to.

This doesn’t help my residents – some think that the trees would be wonderful in a park but outside their home, they are a nuisance. Other residents love them to bits and go absolutely bananas when any get trimmed or removed (usually blasting down the phone or email at me). I agree, trees actually help to reduce pollution and we need them but not if they than cause dangers or problems to people’s homes or where they need to walk safely so we can encourage more people to walk and not drive.

So I’ve sent yet another email on behalf of yet another resident asking what can be done to help. I share their feelings of frustration of both residents and tree officer that more cannot be done – YET - …… I await the reply from our hard-pressed council tree officer ….