Trees being removed? - Valley Park Houses - Hilltown etc. Swords

ozmo

Hi,

I was talking to someone concerned about Fingals plan to remove all the trees from the footpaths from in the Hilltown area of Swords - and partial removal in Valley Park and many other roads around there.
They heard it was complete removal of all trees in Hilltown - no replacements.

Aparently the trees are big now and are damaging the footpaths - so the plan is to remove the trees rather than fix the paths.


Anyone hear anything about it? Sounds very odd. Would anyone know any details published anywhere to get full facts.
She doesn't know anyone else who seems concerned.

Thanks.

Link to Streetview: All these row of trees and more so Im told

MugMugs

It's been done in quite a few spots around river Valley already. Haven't heard of a mass plan though.

ozmo

Shiny Christmas Mugs wrote: »

It's been done in quite a few spots around river Valley already. Haven't heard of a mass plan though.

Thanks - Do you know what roads have been done already

- we know of two about to be done -

(Hillview and Brookdale) - quite large areas

- its going to make for another very bleak housing estate if they remove all the trees!

PCros

Hey as far as I heard it was just the trees beside the lamp posts. I guess this is because they are so big now that when in full bloom the leaves are blocking the light.

They have cut the trees in Seatown Park and again they are only the ones beside lamp posts.

They actually don’t remove the tree but cut it right down so it’s about 4ft high and just the trunk left.

eggerb

A local councillor emailed the following recently...

Hello,

A number of residents have contacted me regarding trees being removed over the last few days. The below is an update issued by Fingal County Council. With regards to the stumps left behind, what usually happens is that they have to hire expensive equipment to remove the stumps, so to save money they allow these to build up and remove all in one go. I will follow up on this. If you have any feedback on the below Fingal County Council Tree Policy, please let me know by reply and I will pass on to the Parks Department.



FINGAL Co Co TREE POLICY

The removal of street trees that are within 5 metres of a public lighting column is an objective of Fingal County Council's adopted tree policy. This is a robust policy that was drawn up by qualified arboriculturists based on the best tree strategies of local authorities in Ireland and the UK. Street trees blocking public lighting is a problem at all times of the year. Good public lighting is essential for road safety and to allow residents and visitors to estates to feel safe. There are approximately 1,000 trees blocking public lights in the North County out of a total in excess of 20,000 street trees and many times that number in our parks and open spaces. To pollard or prune this number of trees on even a 3-4 year cycle would absorb all of the available tree maintenance resource and no other tree work would be done to the detriment of our total tree stock. Any environmental benefit of the trees in terms of carbon sequestration or oxygen production would be far outweighed by the fuel used in the vehicles, chainsaws and chippers to carry out the regular pruning or pollarding. A much more sustainable approach is the early removal of these trees and replanting in a location where the tree can grow unmolested to maturity and fully contribute to the visual amenity and biodiversity of the area. The primary objective of the tree strategy is to achieve a healthy tree population that is diverse in both age and species. The effective management of any tree population will always require regular removal and replanting of a small percentage of the trees. Verges in residential areas are not ideal habitat for trees as there is very limited rooting space available. Trees in these verges have a greatly reduced life expectance of approximately 30-40 years. When trees do regrettably have to be felled Fingal County Council is committed to replanting at least one tree locally for each that is removed whereas in fact many more are actually planted.

ozmo

eggerb wrote: »

A local councillor emailed the following recently...

Thanks for that -

it explains ok about trees too close to the lamps (ie. they dont have the money to prune the tree once every 4 years)

but doesn't explain why they will remove *all* trees from Hilltown with none to be put back in their place (if thats the plan).

Would you be able PM me who the councellor is please and we can see if he can find any more info for us about this?

Thanks

eggerb

Will do ... no problem.

MugMugs

ozmo wrote: »

Thanks - Do you know what roads have been done already

- we know of two about to be done -

(Hillview and Brookdale) - quite large areas

- its going to make for another very bleak housing estate if they remove all the trees!

Sorry OP. I just know of tree's on River Valley Rise, Grove and Forrest Fields that have been removed due to uprooting footpaths. Not entire rows.

cathy01

A neighbours tree is huge .blocking view from window but its hanging over the wall onto the house at the end of her garden .the roots must be huge .i don't think they can make it compulsory to take down a tree even if its on the verge of falling over and landing on its own roots. ??

theent

Trees in Fingal are cut according to a Tree Strategy voted by Councillors. Most of the trees planted 40, 30, 20 and 10 years ago are not suitable as street trees. A majority of them are cherry trees, Norway maples and lime trees. They are resistant to pollution but as they are often planted in small spaces, they outgrow the space and start to lift and destroy pavement. There is no point in fixing the pavement if the tree is still there. As far as I know the plan for the council is to replace the trees causing damage by more suitable trees: amelanchier, Hedge maples (Acer campestre), birches...
Most of the street trees in Fingal are 30-40 years old which is the maximum life expectancy for most street trees. As they are under a lot of stress and because they are pruned regularly, diseases and defaults are numerous on these trees which can make them dangerous. The risk is acceptable in forests but not in densely populated areas. Symptoms are fungi, included bark, swelling in trunk, dead branches in canopy....
I do not think the county council cut trees for fun: I will be easier to kick the can down the road and do nothing. It is expensive to cut trees and it is also dangerous! There is a pdf explaining their policy on their website but I cant find it anymore
As far as I know the trees in Hiltown are going to be replaced by new tree in the coming weeks. Not doing that will be against their own policy.