Encouraging to see that the Council’s vision for 2035, set out in the draft Local Plan, includes the towns and villages of Medway being connected by “green infrastructure supporting nature and healthy communities”. As part of the UK’s ‘natural capital’, trees will have an important role to play as part of such a green infrastructure. Their known benefits can include increasing resilience to climate change, filtering air pollution, absorbing carbon dioxide, providing habitats for wildlife and impacting positively on mental health and well-being.
The Council has certain responsibilities already concerning trees. Those set out on their website include replacing any ‘Council-owned’ tree that is removed.
However, data supplied by Medway Norse following a FOI request shows that since 2012, Medway Council has asked Medway Norse to fell 1878 trees and plant just 318. This suggests that 1560 trees that the Council has asked to be removed have not been replaced. As a result, many Medway residents may have lost the environmental and health benefits previously provided by those trees that have now been felled.
Can Councillor Doe advise what plans the current administration has to rectify this apparent substantial shortfall in tree planting, either as part of wider plans to create a ‘green infrastructure’ or as a separate project?
Minutes:
“Encouraging to see that the Council’s vision for 2035, set out in the draft Local Plan, includes the towns and villages of Medway being connected by “green infrastructure supporting nature and healthy communities”. As part of the UK’s ‘natural capital’, trees will have an important role to play as part of such a green infrastructure. Their known benefits can include increasing resilience to climate change, filtering air pollution, absorbing carbon dioxide, providing habitats for wildlife and impacting positively on mental health and well-being.
The Council has certain responsibilities already concerning trees. Those set out on their website include replacing any ‘Council-owned’ tree that is removed.
However, data supplied by Medway Norse following a FOI request shows that since 2012, Medway Council has asked Medway Norse to fell 1878 trees and plant just 318. This suggests that 1560 trees that the Council has asked to be removed have not been replaced. As a result, many Medway residents may have lost the environmental and health benefits previously provided by those trees that have now been felled.
Can Councillor Doe advise what plans the current administration has to rectify this apparent substantial shortfall in tree planting, either as part of wider plans to create a ‘green infrastructure’ or as a separate project?”
Councillor Doe thanked Mr Dyke for his question. He stated that he shared Mr Dyke’s view regarding trees in the sense they made an enormous contribution to the quality of life for all the reasons he had given.
He stated that the Council had adopted its tree policy in 2008 to ensure the safety of Medway Council’s trees, to maintain and encourage biodiversity and improve the quality of the landscape and through those elements the Council was seeking to improve the quality of life of Medway’s residents and visitors now and in the future.
He stated that he had already raised the issue of the number of trees that had been removed from the streets and public spaces by Medway Norse and the establishment of replacement trees which had not kept pace. He stated that he had established a group to investigate this matter further and the group was looking at ways in which losses could be minimised in the future and how the number of replacement trees could be increased bearing in mind that the Council was under severe financial constraints.
He explained that the types of measures being looked at included the review criteria when Medway Norse were considering the removal or heavy pruning of trees, strengthening the tree policy which was adopted in 2008 to safeguard existing trees and secure replacement planting and the introduction of a mechanism for the signing off of works for significant trees, where there was a proposal to fell them or significantly reduce their size (to make it much more difficult to fell a tree).
He stated that, in addition, it was also hoped to include policies in the new Local Plan which would safeguard important tress, to secure provision of green infrastructure and also to amend the Developers’ Contribution Guide to secure contribution from developers for tree planting establishment in the public realm. He also stated that the Council was investigating what further grants may be available from other interested bodies. He concluded by stating that the Council was doing all it could in that it recognised the problem, it was being addressed and that he was hopeful that the situation would be improved.