Within the community, a corner of two residential roads is home to a group of beautiful, mature trees that serve as a gathering spot and an important community hub. These trees are beloved by the community, and are protected by tree protection orders. They were granted as a gift to the community in perpetuity in the 1980s as a planning condition for the creation of a business park. However, in the face of the current climate emergency, these important natural assets are still at risk.
Despite the fact that extreme temperatures are becoming more frequent in London and the south-east, trees are still seen as obstacles to the goal of making money through property development. This has led to a battle between developers and the community over the fate of the trees. The council of the Liberal Democrat-run borough of Richmond upon Thames, which has a strong group of Green councillors, declared a climate emergency in 2019. The council also launched a biodiversity action plan with the help of David Attenborough, a local resident, with the mantra “think globally, act locally, make a home for nature”. However, this has not deterred developers from trying to destroy the trees and build luxury homes.
Despite residents mounting a grassroots campaign to save the trees, which included paying for an arboricultural survey and asking a local charity to monitor foraging bats, the fight is not yet over. The developer has submitted new plans that involve tearing down four of the group of 11 trees, with severe pruning and pollarding of the other trees, and enclosing two of them in the gardens of the new homes. The council’s planning officer is recommending that councillors approve the housing on Wednesday, despite the fact that the destruction of the trees would significantly degrade the quality of the street scene.
It is important to note that trees play a crucial role in fighting the climate crisis by capturing and storing carbon, preventing flooding, and cooling cities, not to mention their importance in providing homes for threatened wildlife. The destruction of these trees would be a shortsighted move that robs future generations of these benefits. The loss of the trees would be a devastating blow to the community, and would carry far-reaching consequences beyond the loss of a place to sit and chat under their shaded canopy.
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