Herefordshire Tree Forum position statement – A 49 trees
Herefordshire Tree Forum exists to maintain, sustain and increase the tree coverage in the Hereford landscape and was formed as a result of particular concerns about the loss of mature trees from within the City of Hereford: a city that has a relatively low urban tree cover. Our core position therefore is that trees should not be felled unless absolutely necessary and that the assessment of necessity is more onerous the more mature the tree is.
For trees that are ‘established’ we do not believe they can simply be felled and replanted: even replanting a tree of like age (ie felling a 10 year tree and replacing it with one of the same age) is unsatisfactory, given the problems of establishing mature replants and their impaired potential to ‘flourish’ in terms of achieving full growth and a full life span.
There is very substantial evidence concerning the value of trees within the urban environment. We would hope that this value is self evident, but should this be contested, we list, briefly, in the Appendix some of the factors that contribute to this attribution of value.
From our core position, we analyse the justification of felling the 14 limeson Edgar Street, Hereford. These are mature trees of approximately 50 years age and accordingly we believe very substantial grounds indeed need to be advanced to justify their felling.
We list below the grounds, as we understand them that have been advanced for requiring their felling.
A highway ‘pinch-point’
It is been arguedby the Highways Agency that the roadway to either side of the trees is a ‘pinch-point’ – and their removal is necessary to enable this particular pinch-point to be removed. We have been advised that this is part of a wider national programme of removing pinch-points.
Discussion
In lay terms, a ‘pinch-point’ connotes a narrowing or a ‘bottle neck’. The roadway to the east and west of the side of the limes is dual carriageway; to the south there is a roundabout and traffic lights and to the north both lanes narrow to a single lane. Elementarily, whatever description is given to this portion of highway, it fails to satisfy the commonly understood definition of ‘pinch-point’.
As we understand it, the single lanes to the north of the limes will remain after they have been felled. In lay terms therefore, it is difficult to see how two lanes constitute a pinch point or widening these will change anything at the point at which the dual lanes converges into single lanes
Traffic flow maximisation
It appears that the Highways Agency believe that the felling of the limes will, in some way or another, speed up the flow of traffic in this particular section of the A49.
Discussion
The Tree Forum does not consider that the Highways Agency has produced compelling evidence to establish that any increased speeds resulting from the felling of the limes would be anything other than marginal. We most certainly do not accept that increased speeds alone can justify felling mature limes in an urban area. The basic flaw in the Highway Agencies approach on this question, is its failure to grasp fully the fact that this stretch of road has to be seen in the context of its urban setting: that approaches to highway design must change materially if the highway is going through an urban area as opposed to open countryside. There are many reasons why approaches to highway design must be different in highly populated areas, not least that major roads have a detrimental effect on human health: the fumes; the barriers they create – all of which are exacerbated by increased traffic speeds: all of which are ameliorated by (amongst other things) high tree densities
Planning
That congestion will be caused by the access road to the new retail development – and that the limes need to be felled to address this.
Discussion
If this is a ground, then the problem is causedby the new development not the limes. The developers have not (publically at least) argued that the limes need to be felled to remedy a problem that is caused by their development, albeit that it is a noteworthy coincidence that the desire to fell the trees has arisen at the height of the engineering works on the retail development.
Any argument that the limes should be felled to facilitate the development would be highly objectionable. The developers have designed their access roads and have obtained planning permission on the basis of the existing A49 alignment. If access was considered to be a problem, then this should have been addressed by changing the layout of the access road on the development area – and not be requiring trees to be felled outside the development area.
Conclusions
In this position statement we have endeavoured to evaluate the reasons advanced for the felling ofthese 14 limes on Edgar Street, against our criteria – namely that trees of this kind should not be felled unless absolutely necessary and that the assessment of necessity is more onerous the more mature the tree is.
The grounds advanced range from the removal of a ‘pinch-point’, to the need to ‘increase traffic speeds’ and to the addressing of an ‘access problem’ to the new (adjoining) retail development. We appreciate that there may be situations where the balancing exercise between retaining and felling trees maybe finely balanced, but in the current context we find no such difficulties. We are at a considerable loss to even understand the cost benefit arguments for the works - particularly in the current economic climate. We most singularly fail to see anything approaching what might be described as a pressing social need let alone a need that constitutes ‘absolute necessity’.
It is the opinion of the Tree Forum that this short section of road is being treated as ifit were in open countryside and that the reality is that the limes are to be sacrificedmerely maintain the purity of a engineers algorithm.
Appendix 1
The value of trees in the urban environment: a brief resume based on known evidence and research:
Environmental (iemitigation of air pollution and flash flooding)
Human Health (green infrastructure benefits to physical and mental health)
Amenity (trees, especially mature trees within urban settings can have high amenity value, as these trees certainly do)
Traffic calming (trees along roadsides encourage drivers to slow down….
Co-Chairs Cllr. Felicity Norman and Mike Townsend, OBE, Senior Adviser to the Woodland Trust
Herefordshire Tree Forum is a membership organisation and these views do not necessarily represent those of all our members.