Tree Watch, York

It seems about time we stopped resting on our laurels regarding the welfare of our local trees.

Trees in built-up areas are facing a lot of threats. Not just ‘natural’ ones, from disease, old age, but from the various forms of vandalism inflicted upon them, sometimes because of ‘health and safety’ concerns, sometimes because they’re in the way of development, sometimes just because some self-centred individual has a fear of things that grow big, and a morbid preoccupation with their household drains.

Alongside the felling is the hideous mutilation, as can be seen on Lord Mayor’s Walk in York, and at the bottom of St John’s Street, and on Burton Stone Lane, and probably other streets near you.

Tree works in Conservation Areas can be commented upon via the planning system - it’s easy to do this now the documents are accessible online.

But perhaps few people are bothered? Maybe you don’t care. Maybe it’s just me and a few other tree-huggers …

It seems that people power is alive and well in Heworth at least. Just checked back on an application I’d included on these pages … - the locals know their patch and have made their voices heard.

In this and other cases, a quote from the council’s own website may be of interest: “A national survey undertaken by the Guardian and New City Beautiful identified that York has less tree cover than the national average of 12% (European average tree cover is around 27%).” (source)

The response is to plant a lot of new trees. Great for future generations, but … perhaps our tree cover could also be enhanced by keeping hold of the fine old specimens we’ve already got. Takes a long time for a sapling to replace an established tree, doesn’t it.