Termination of Pollarding street trees.

[sean]

At last nights Bristol Tree Forum meeting it was finally officially announced by the Deputy Mayor that due to budget cuts, which now only leaves £53,000 per annum for tree management, the council will be no longer be undertaking any pollarding on the cities population of 4000 street pollards. There will also be a termination of epicormic removal which will now only be removed when reported on the grounds of Health and Safety. Later in the meeting the Highways manager when questioned several times finally admitted that this decision had been taken without any consultation or advice from the City's Arboricultural team, which to me beggars belief.

 

Having spent 3 years as a climber in Bristol on the Council contract undertaking much of the pollarding work and as a current resident of the city I not only find this situation shocking but also very worrying. These trees which are predominantly London Planes and Limes have levels of decay which you would expect to find but are no real cause for concern due to them being on 3/5 year pollarding cycles.There are many however that due to their proximity to commercial buildings and houses are on 2year cycles as in the photograph below. The photograph below is in fact taken in my old road and by the time the 2 years was up the regrowth was practically touching our bedroom windows and gutters.

The suspension of the pollarding program as was pointed out to the deputy mayor comes with many potential problems in the future. It was pointed out that there would be an escalation of claims to the Council for damage to property either through over grown crowns or root damage. There is the potential for an increase in limb failure due to excessive weight and god forbid serious injury to pedestrians from falling debris. One of the positives of the pollarding cycles was that the cities Tree stock was getting a full aerial tree inspection every few years with any defects monitored and managed. This will no longer be the case. One concerned resident stated that his house insurance policy is dependent on the tree out side his house being pollarded every 3 years.

 

As the meeting went on there was a call from Councillors for everybody to get their heads together and discuss a way forward and to come up with solutions to this big problem. Amongst other things suggested was the possibility of residents raising money and having trees pollarded themselves by fully qualified and insured arborists.

 

It's all a bit of a mess and who knows where this will all end up but I am very interested in all your thoughts/ideas. Thanks in advance.

 

The minutes of the meeting can be found here

 

https://bristoltreeforum.org/2017/07/05/bristol-trees-in-crisis-notes-of-04-july-public-meeting/

Edited July 5, 2017 by sean

[benedmonds]

... the council will be no longer be undertaking any pollarding on the cities population of 4000 street pollards. There will also be a termination of epicormic removal which will now only be removed when reported on the grounds of Health and Safety....

 

That is one of the most short sighted least thought through council decision ever.. It will lead to a costly mess, unless they are planning the Sheffield fell everything strategy..

[Stephen Blair]

They haven't pollarded stuff up here in decades . Locals went bonkers by the 3rd tree, councillors jumped on the band wagon and the thinning tickles began.

Residents usually keep on top of epicormic and trees get picked off here and there.

[Mark Bolam]

Spruce are different though mate.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

[Stephen Blair]

Greens green!

[David Humphries]

Appreciate you keeping us updated on the situation sean.

 

Out of interest is there Massaria on the plane trees in Bristol?

 

If there is, I suspect it's possibly quite low in occurrence due to the previous regular pollarding, but that would change significantly if the trees become lapsed and develop larger older wood canopies where Massaria thrives.

 

The potential risk of dead Massaria branches not being picked up via inspection and dropping on to target areas would likely increase significantly.

 

What's the geology in Bristol? Is there much cley around the streets?

 

If there is, the council will not just get an increase in claims due to direct root damage to property but there will be an increase in claims due to subsidence.

 

ofcourse there would be a small positive in the increase of shade due to larger canopies (particularly in terms of urban heat island effect) but doesn't sound like

the tree stock could sustain that benefit for long.

 

Frustrating to hear of the shortsightedness of this decision.

 

 

 

.

Edited July 6, 2017 by David Humphries

[Shane]

Apart from the inevitable problems which all can foresee, isn't the issue that they have only allocated, or been allocated £53,000.

THAT is the amazing decision. With on costs that is one technical person's wages at the Town Hall.

 

How far will £53k go - astonishing but it's the world we live in.

 

I hope their insurance is willing to pay out on this basis.

[Kveldssanger]

"Later in the meeting the Highways manager when questioned several times finally admitted that this decision had been taken without any consultation or advice from the City's Arboricultural team, which to me beggars belief"

 

This is some middle managers and some upper managers in the public sector doing what they do best: being absolutely diabolical at doing anything remotely useful.

[Steve Bullman]

Very short sighted as others have said....someones going to end up regretting this decision somewhere down the line I expect

[teepeeat]

better to get rid of a few of them managers - that'll free up plenty more cash to sustain a proper management strategy run by someone who knows what they are talking about:wink: