Tree stumps in Nailsea town centre provoke war of woods

YOU can’t see the trees for the wooden ‘lollypops’ in Nailsea town centre after some severe pruning has left a leafless lunar landscape and provoked an almighty row.

Leading horticultural expert Alan Barber, who lives locally, is incensed about how the London plane trees in Somerset Square have been ‘pollarded’ but the action is defended by the district and town councils.

Mr Barber, a former parks manager for Bristol City Council and once part of CABE, an advisory body to government on architecture, urban design and public space, has exchanged some scathing words with those responsible.

He said: “The trees are a prominent and valuable asset which has been brutally treated.”

Mr Barber says the London plane trees do not need regular ‘pollarding’ a method of removing the top branches back to the trunk.

But Mary Ponsonby whose term of office as chairman of  Nailsea Town Council ended at the annual meeting last night, Wednesday, May 19, argues this is the way growth of urban trees is checked and she is supported by a district council statement.

Mr Barber, aged 67, a pioneer of Parks for the People was awarded an OBE by HM the Queen in 2008 and is due to honored by the Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew later this year.

He said: “All that was needed was a 30 per cent crown thinning to preserve the shade for the summer months.”

Some years ago Mr Barber had campaigned for the correct pruning procedure and believes the district and town councils and the company which owns the shopping precinct had heeded his words.

But says Mr Barber ‘the butchery continues’ and he has dubbed those responsible as ‘incompetent’.

Mr Barber said the decision to ‘pollard’ and ‘reduce crown by 30 per cent’ by planners are two ‘incompatible treatments’ because once a tree is ‘pollarded’ it has no branches left to reduce.

He added: “There needs to be an undertaking from the town centre owners that these trees will never again be pollarded. 

“The idea that periodic pollarding is necessary for health and safety reasons is invalid. Plane trees have a great structural strength 

“The proper treatment is crown thinning. 

“This reduces the branch work by up to 30 per cent and should be undertaken every three years. 

“It reduces the weight of branches while retaining their canopy of shade over the shopping precinct. 

“What has happened, is happening still, is a total disgrace and displays our ignorance of tree care to the world. 

“All parties should be ashamed of their collusion in destroying the asset value of a fine collection of London planes, whose protection by the local authority has proved worthless.”

Nailsea Town Council clerk Ian Morrell said concern was expressed at a planning and environmental committee on Wednesday, May 12.

In the committee minutes it records: “A tree officer from North Somerset Council has assessed the work and has commented favourably. The trees were previously pollarded about nine years ago and subsequently pruned about four years ago. The advice we have received is that these trees should be pollarded every four to five years, and that light pruning is not effective.”

Mrs Ponsonby said she is due to meet the new town centre owners next week and she would raise the matter but she believes Mr Barber is wrong in his criticism.

She said: “London planes should be subject to 'pollarding' as this increases the lifespan of the tree and encourages healthy growth particularly when the trees are planted in less than the best soil.”

Mrs Ponsonby did concede that both cutting back the branches and pollarding was wrong – it was either one method or the other.

She said in an exchange of emails with Mr Barber which was copied to Nailsea People: “You may be aware that I was brought up close to London and even in the 1940s and early 1950s this was the way the London plane trees were dealt with in the parks and streets of London and remains the status quo today."

And she says the photographs of the trees in full foliage show how healthy a tree can look in the years following pollarding.

Mr Barber was not impressed with Mrs Ponsonby’s observations and responded saying the photograph she commented on was not the results of ‘earlier pollarding but of the expert pruning conducted by Fountains – a local timber company - four years ago’.

He added: “We can agree that the plane trees will grow again but for the first two years they will just develop ‘lollypop’ heads and need to have their branches thinned in order to attempt to recreate their appearance before the latest butchery. 

“The question is why anyone thinks that you have to subject the trees to repeated pollarding in order to reach the attractive canopy that Nailsea shoppers have enjoyed these last few summers.

“Fountains could have been invited back to crown thin the trees and this would have protected their appearance which is the equivalent of a hair cut, not a shaved head leaving the trees, as they are now, with not a leaf in sight.

“My knowledge of London planes is that left to grow, they are magnificent trees. 

“Just take a look at those in Russell Square, London, or the magnificent specimens in Whiteladies Road, at the corner of Tyndall Park Road in Bristol. 

“Where planes have been pruned, Great George Street in Bristol provides a good sample as do those in Southampton Row in London. 

“I can only impress upon you that pollarding is unnecessary for plane trees in any situation, and it ruins their value to the amenity of what is otherwise a nice little shopping centre. 

“I hope you can persuade the town centre company to desist in future and engage expert contractors to crown thin the trees and that we have no repeat of the present devastation.”

North Somerset Council issued the following statement:

“The London plane trees in Nailsea town centre are a prominent and valuable asset which is being pruned using a long-established method.

"Responsibility for their management lies with the tree owner, and not with North Somerset Council.

“Pollarding is a common and accepted method of managing the growth of a tree where it might otherwise outgrow limited space.

"Pollarded trees can live much longer than uncut ones. "Pollarding creates a distinctive shape that is often sought after in plazas, main streets and other urban areas.

"Once a regime of pollarding is begun, it is necessary to maintain it by repeat-pruning.

“North Somerset Council has about 1,000 pollarded urban trees under its own management.

"Willows have also been traditionally pollarded in North Somerset, and are characteristic of our rural landscape.

“London plane trees can grow to an enormous ultimate size, but are especially tolerant of pollarding.

“The London planes in Nailsea town centre were last pollarded following the council’s consent in 1991.

“The recent application to prune the trees was assessed on its merits.

“The application was to re-pollard the trees to the original points, with the option to thin the main branches by up to 30 per cent to form a balanced structure for future growth. These treatments are not incompatible.

“Consent was granted because pollarding represents standard management practice in this case.

“We would expect the government Planning Inspectorate – were an appeal made against our refusal – to reach the same decision.

“The council accepts that the visual amenity will be reduced until the canopy cover has redeveloped, but the long-term amenity value of the trees will not be reduced.

“North Somerset Council tree officers are qualified and competent in their duties, which include administrating protected tree applications, commenting and advising on planning applications that may affect trees, and managing the council’s own estate of trees and woodlands.

“The officers have appropriate arboricultural knowledge and experience, having obtained the nationally recognised Level 3 Technician's Certificate in Arboriculture as a minimum.

“They are members of the Arboricultural Association and complete its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirement.”

No-one from Nailsea Unit Trust the financial property holding company, who own the shopping precinct, was available for comment.