Pollarding?

Hello I just wanted to ask some professionals:

Why do they pollard street trees? is it purely because they have been left to grow too far and because the council has decided they want them a certain height they then have to be harshly cut back?

Where as if they would have been cut back earlier once they have reached a maximum height allowed could there natural character be saved as they are cut back to growth and not have harsh cuts right back into the wood?

Street trees are typicaly done to VERY tight budgets, the style of pruning is what time allows.

Nothing wrong with correctly done and managed pollards though.

What species are we talkign about? Different reasons for different species, but like Hama says cost is often a factor.

What species are we talkign about? Different reasons for different species, but like Hama says cost is often a factor.

In the chain of priorities, it is THE factor:thumbdown:

But then we wouldnt want to pay increased council tax.... would we?

who would be willing to pay an aditional fee on thier council tax for decent tree maintenance? this may be a way forward, police fire ambulance are all itemised, why not have it all itemised and allow the public to say which they would like to "contribute extra" to.

i think it was the normans(i am sure if i am wrong i will be corrected lol) who brought pollarding to the country to stop deer from eating the new shoots the saxsons would coppice at ground level. yep cost when i worked for a local council march till end of april was just get out and get the base and stem growth cut and get the all the polards done it was quicker to do that than lift and reduce some trees

Street pollarding is a way of retaining large trees in an urban environment. Many years ago labour was comparatively cheap and large gangs would go out and re-pollard our street trees comparatively often. Sadly more recently council budgets have got tighter and tighter, most street trees will be owned by the highway authority (who more often than not think of trees as a hindrance, not an asset).

Here in Worcester we’ve more or less re-pollarded all our lapsed pollards and are looking to re-introduce a 5 yearly regime. This I think is the way forward, yes it hits them hard but as yet we haven’t had a tree die due to stress and strain.

There will never be the money in local authority that there once was, that I’m afraid is a fact.

i think it was the normans(i am sure if i am wrong i will be corrected lol) who brought pollarding to the country to stop deer from eating the new shoots the saxsons would coppice at ground level. yep cost when i worked for a local council march till end of april was just get out and get the base and stem growth cut and get the all the polards done it was quicker to do that than lift and reduce some trees

I think it was more than just deer, read somewhere it was any livestock. Fencing was required if the woodland was coppiced. So pollarding must have been less hassle. The Royal Forest of Bere was a hunting area, and pollarding was apparently more popular. Though most of the Bere Forest first went up in firewood, and then a lot more went into building naval ships of the line in next door Portsmouth. Not a lot of it left now, and not much of the navy left either.

We have some Old Limes that are pollarded every 10 years in Blandford. They are at the far reaches of a small paddock where the local hunt meets every boxing day. They are rumoured to be 800 years old but no records have been found. The first link shows the old ones in the paddock. The second link shows some awful pollarding that is done every 2 years to keep the route clear for the carnival. It is paid for every two years by a local district councillor which my dad used to work with and he is an arrogant sod and sadly his son is the same.

West Street, Blandford Forum - Google Maps

St leonard's Avenue, Blandford Forum - Google Maps

The images aren't brilliant. I shall try and get some pictures of the badly pollarded trees. Whats worse is they were pollarded last year in JUNE. The worst time to pollard trees.

I think its a good way to retain a large species of tree close to properties and highways if done properly and regularly.

So pollarding vs crown reduction- is it purely TIME that is a factor? (and also more tricky work to reduce)

If time wasn't an issue would it always be better to do a full crown reduction on the tree back to growth points before it out grows its situation? and would this ensure the trees natural character vs cutting back to stumps and loads of shoots coming out? like you see on a lot of street trees?