Save London Trees
A post by Miranda Griffin
Early this year a community in south west London came together to save a rare Black Poplar from felling by Wandsworth Council. This huge, beautiful tree was a landmark in York Gardens, one of the few patches of green space left undeveloped in the area, and children from the neighbouring estate had played and picnicked under it for over 60 years. It screened the flats from a busy six-lane road and absorbed its pollution. It also had the bad luck to be in the way of developers Taylor Wimpey and Wandsworth Council, who were not prepared to discuss alternatives to the destruction.
Despite heroic efforts by three activists who lived in the tree for 20 days, professional support from surveyors and lawyers, and pleas from those living in the flats, the tree was felled. The strength of feeling in the community during this fight was remarkable, and underlined just how important our mature trees are to Londoners. London’s trees improve air quality, provide habitats for birds and other wildlife, help prevent flooding and cool down a rapidly heating environment. They make areas more attractive to live and work in, and boost the physical and mental health of the city’s residents.
Promises by developers and councils to replace felled trees fail to take into account the canopy cover of existing mature ones – it would take hundreds of saplings to immediately achieve the vital coverage of one mature tree, and the urgent nature of our climate emergency means we can’t wait for these young trees to grow.
Support for York Gardens from other tree protection groups showed the scale of the threat – hundreds of trees across London are currently in danger, such as Wornington Trees in North Kensington where the community is battling to save 43 trees from local development, and the historic Bethnal Green mulberry tree under threat from builders of luxury flats. In many cases the groups have identified solutions that could save the trees within the developments, but are not consulted.
We have set up Save London Trees to bring together groups protecting much-loved trees in their communities. We have a petition asking the Mayor for a London-wide strategy to ensure mature trees are included - rather than destroyed - in new developments, and we aim to create a website on which groups can share the knowledge they’ve gained and news of their campaigns. As a new organisation we are grateful for any support we can get, from signing our petition to retweeting cries for help from community tree protection groups.
As I write, activists have set up camp in York Gardens again, to protect a further 123 trees due to be felled. With a climate emergency declared by the same council responsible for this destruction, the need to protect our mature trees has never seemed more urgent.
Miranda Griffin is A member of campaign group Save London Trees
