Published 29th July 2019

When residents raised concerns over the necessity of much of the tree felling that has been carried out and the lack of new planting over recent years, the new council administration asked Cllr Carole Mulroney, Cabinet Member for Environment & Planning, to take a close look at the policy and its implementation.

It quickly became clear that the previous administration had not even come close over sixteen years to delivering its supposed ‘2 for 1’ planting policy. Given also the worries over how necessary it has been to destroy some ‘diseased’ trees, Cllr Mulroney has instructed that all tree felling (apart from urgent safety works and similar) be stopped until the policy is re-examined.This review has been welcomed by members of the public and will give the administration the facts to make a decision on changing the policy if necessary and ensuring its implementation so that trees are preserved whenever feasible and, when not, replaced with others as nearby as possible.