Ancient oak tree cut down in Whitewebbs Park Enfield

[peds]

A number of times in recent days I've seen "pollarded" to describe the legitimate and effective practice of coppicing above head height, to prevent deer or livestock damage on regrowth. Lots of people understand that to be pollarding, not your fancy French street trees with your pompom arms.

 

So what do we call that, other than "coppicing above head height"?

[Stere]

Just 2 different variations -  both called pollarding?

 

Might it not still have a decent chance of growing back but  it  was probably  lapsed for  too long...?

 

To attempt to get it such a  lapsed pollard back into a pollard cycle im think  its  best done as a staged reduction until you get some new epicormic growth.

Edited April 16 by Stere

[Yournamehere]

Surely in a tree of that age, decay is just a part of its life-cycle? The dead branches are as much a part of the tree as the living crown: they last for  centuries.

Sims like it was overseen by a man of little imagination, in an office: someone for whom it was just another 'green thing in the way'.

Move the people not the tree: put some railings around it with a notice explaining how although the stag-horns are as hard as iron and part of its character, other pieces may drop and as much as you might like to, it's just not safe to sit underneath it.

Rename the carvery The Ancient/Enfield Oak make a feature/attraction of it.

Remove, halo, all that spindly stuff around it: give it room to breath, room to be seen, room to live; create a landscape in which it can be appreciated and admired.

So many options.

[AHPP]

It's only "left as a pollard" because they didn't have a big enough saw.

[kram]

It appears the council stepped in before they finished and slapped a tpo on the stem. Councils do not move fast, so it must have been a multi day job 😆

[Peter 1955]

26 minutes ago, kram said:

It appears the council stepped in before they finished and slapped a tpo on the stem. Councils do not move fast, so it must have been a multi day job 😆

Trimmed some hedge line branches on a Friday afternoon so a 360 could cut a dyke. Came back to work Monday morning to find it now had a TPO on the whole hedge! Boss was not amused, had to alter the dyke line away from the hedge. 

[woody paul]

1 hour ago, Yournamehere said:

Surely in a tree of that age, decay is just a part of its life-cycle? The dead branches are as much a part of the tree as the living crown: they last for  centuries.

Sims like it was overseen by a man of little imagination, in an office: someone for whom it was just another 'green thing in the way'.

Move the people not the tree: put some railings around it with a notice explaining how although the stag-horns are as hard as iron and part of its character, other pieces may drop and as much as you might like to, it's just not safe to sit underneath it.

Rename the carvery The Ancient/Enfield Oak make a feature/attraction of it.

Remove, halo, all that spindly stuff around it: give it room to breath, room to be seen, room to live; create a landscape in which it can be appreciated and admired.

So many options.

They must of had reason to get it looked at by arborist, insurance I bet then insurance company looked at findings and said got to come down no other option but there was. 

Also bet got solicitors to look at deeds to find out were bound is and said yours not council. Will be interested to see outcome of it. 

[Yournamehere]

BBC Story Updated

 

Ergin Erbil, leader of Enfield Council, described the felling as "an outrage" and said the authority was "looking at all legal options".

He said: "Our experts surveyed this tree in December and they said it's healthy and could live another few hundred years so I completely oppose the argument from the leaseholder that this posed a health and safety risk."

[Yournamehere]

Just out of interest, would a job like this normally be done from a platform or would it normally be roped?

I was wondering if it was done from a platform because that would be quicker (because able to drop bigger lumps) because they knew they had to get in and get it down on the ground as fast as possible: ie before too many people noticed/could do anything about it.

TIA

Yourn

[Steven P]

Reading around the story, it does seam a lot like as quick as possible, chop it down and run.