Ranting blog post today.
We’re constantly told to plant more trees to save the environment, big utilities companies brag about their green credentials. Then we get this.
This is a beautiful example of what not to do on sites with trees, in fact if this did happen, planning enforcement and the tree officer, should be jumping up and down at you. But this isn’t hidden away on a small development site, it’s on a pretty busy footpath, next to a main road on the edge of a conservation area, and nothing has happened and nothing will.
Now this won’t kill the tree straight away.
Trees very rarely die overnight, they tend to take there time even after they’ve had a large percentage of the root plate ripped out with a digger and the rooting area tracked all over with. Now they should have had the airspade out, excavated the roots and then trenched beneath it, but when there’s no consequences why bother trying to be right. Even if the tree doesn’t die, its not going to do it a lot of good in the long term, and in truth it should happen and when it does there should be consequences.
And neither should this.
This is a 20% reduction on a TPO tree by a company that claims it works to BS3998, it’s emblazoned on their advertising and their vehicles, but I seriously doubt any of the staff or the business owner have ever seen a copy, let alone realise that it helps to own a copy and that there’s a bit missing off the end of that standard.
Quite honestly it’s been butchered, really badly, (we have written about this sort of thing before), and is no different to the utility firm trenching straight through, despite being signed up to the NJUG guidelines.
Both of these have been reported to enforcement and the tree officers for the area.
Not by me but by the individuals who sent me these images. So far there’s been no response on one with the other having the response “that it’s not in the councils interest to pursue the matter”.
Personal view is that the tree officers should be seen to be taking this further, I can pretty much guarantee that if that excavation was on a small development and it was reported there would be repercussions, and if they want to be taken seriously then they should take these things further, and if the industry wants to taken seriously then all of us should be calling these things out, and if contractors are members of schemes or “approved” then they should be removed with a press release stating the reasons for it.
Any way, rant over