Stay of Execution for the Trees

The fate of the village trees went right down to the wire as Formby Parish Council raced to meet the conditions set by Sefton Council in order to save them from the chop.

If not for some last minute hurdle jumping from Claire Jenkins, Formby's very able Parish Clerk our trees would have been saw dust by now.  The future of these magnificent trees still remain uncertain as the advice from the Parish Council's Arboricultural Consultants makes it clear that if work to improve the tree pits and the roots is not carried out then the trees will continue to decline.

I have included a copy of the correspondence between the Borough Council and the Parish Council over the pruning of the trees.  Sefton did not make it easy and presented many last minute hurdles, it is to the credit of the Parish Clerk and Parish Councillors that they/we had the tenacity to keep going.  This was made easier by the knowledge that 4200 local residents were right behind us.

The next battle will be at least as hard if not harder as we attempt to get Sefton Council to allow us to alter the pavements, introduce mulching and employ an alternative to salt on our icy pavements.  Expect many more hurdles, and consistent opposition from Sefton Council Officers.  We must push on with this program of works as soon as possible, this is where the voices of local people will be much needed once again.  So stick around I have a feeling the biggest battles are yet to come.  

Big Turnout in the Fight to Save the Village Trees

Support continues to snowball in the campaign to stop the felling of two Formby village trees, in a carnival atmosphere supporters gathered to collect more signatures and hand out leaflets as outrage grows.

Morris Dancers paraded around the larger of the two threatened horse chestnut trees and news filtered out that Formby Parish Council had secured the services of Arboriculturalist Greg Thompson to carry out a close visual inspection of the trees, involving climbing into the canopy.  This follows an earlier report by Bruce Hatton the tree expert who gave the thumbs up to retain and revive the veteran trees with a program of pruning and ground works.

This second inspection could happen as early as Thursday next week, it is understood that as of Tuesday 11th of September Chief Executive Margaret Carney had not seen the fabled tree report from Sefton tree removal contractors claiming there were large holes in the trees making them structurally unsound.  It was mention of this report that hardened Sefton Council's stance in removing the trees and sparked the Parish Council's "in tree" second visual inspection.

The support from the public continues to grow swelling the Facebook page to 600 members and the online petition now approaching 1300 signatures has been boosted with more than 1000 more gathered by campaigners in the village.  With more to come in from shop keepers holding the petition in their stores it is expected that by the end of tomorrow support will be well on the way to 3000 signaures in the space of two weeks!

In a meeting with Margaret Carney earlier this week FRAG Councillor Bob McCann was told that the major concern with the trees relates to health and safety and although arrangements are still in place for the felling of the trees beginning 4th of October she will consider the Parish Council's report if it arrives in time.

  

Campaigners Brave the Weather to Fight for Formby's Trees

Campaigners took to the streets of Formby Village as residents called for Sefton Council to reverse its decision to remove iconic trees from the town's main shopping centre.  Many were dismayed at Sefton Council's renewed attack on 2 mature horse chestnut trees despite a report commission by Formby Parish Council, showing that with the right treatment the current state of decline could be reversed making the trees healthy and structurally safe for many more years to come.

Some residents felt that Sefton Council Officers have retreated behind "Health and Safety" claiming that no treatment can prevent the trees becoming a risk to the public because campaigners for the trees have addressed every other obstacle raised by the Sefton Council. 

One resident said "we have secured the funding, we have the Arboriculturalist to do the job, the pit extensions are just a matter if raising a few flagstones, for minimal cost and effort we get to keep these majestic trees and restore them back to their former glory.  Surely its a no brainier"?  

Despite recommendation to retain the two trees by Mr Bruce Hatton an expert Arboriculturalist appointed by the Parish Council, who cites amongst his clients the Royal Household and who has advised many other City, District and Borough Councils,  Sefton Council Officers suggest that Mr Hatton was unable to see the true state of the trees from the ground.  Therefore they reject his conclusions.  

To resolve the matter residents lobbied Formby Parish Councillors to commission a further inspection of the trees to include climbing the trees for close visual inspection.  On Tuesday 4th of September, Formby Parish Council voted unanimously to back this course of action.

I have little doubt that when this new report is written Mr Hatton's judgement will be shown to be sound. 

Currently the trees are scheduled to be removed on the 4th of October.  If you have not done so already I would ask you to sign our online petition, you can also sign up for updates from this blog.

Thanks to all those who collected signatures in Formby village and the fabulous village shops for supporting our campaign. 

In Reply to Sefton's Chief Exec

Many of you will have had the response below from Margaret Carney.  First I would say I am very pleased but not surprised the Chief Exec is engaging with the public. In my experience Ms Carney is very approachable quite hands on.  However she is being directed in this instance by her officers, whose opinion she is duty bound to consider, especially as this issue has health and safety implication.  However I shall respond to the issues below in red.

Dear 

Thank you for your email.  It remains our opinion that the trees represent a potential public safety risk and as such should be removed.  The crown of the tree to the front of Cassidy’s was only 50% in leaf last year (summer 2017) and is the same this year. The Parish Council’s independent arborist agreed that if this was the case he would also recommend removal at the second inspection.  We are unsure why this view has changed. His view hasn't changed it has been [deliberately?] misrepresented.   The tree to the front of Boots was climbed recently with a view to pruning as per the recommendation within the independent report; Due to the level of decay in the main stem and crown a suitable anchor point could not be achieved. Pruning would therefore need to be undertaken via the use of a mobile platform. The fact that this amount of decay was found within the crown of the tree is a serious concern to the council and supports our professional opinion to remove this tree.

I emailed Bruce Hatton the tree Consultant commission by the Parish Council about the Cassidy's tree here is what he said "I had a telephone conversation with J B before I re inspected the trees in May. I confirmed that if the tree did not come into leaf with a minimum of 50% of the crown having leaf cover, then the options would be either a heavy crown reduction and the remedial actions suggested in my initial report, or removal. If the tree failed to flush, or at least flushed and then shed leaves soon after, then removal was most probably the best option. If the funding and willing is available to undertake the remediation works I recommended, then based upon the above statement, the tree could be retained, if not I doubt that the tree would survive more than three years and should therefore be removed". There is no ambiguity or change of heart and to suggest so is misleading. 

Responding To Sefton's Statement

Sefton Council issued a statement in regard to the two trees to be removed in Formby Village which can be found here. However I would suggest that it lacks balance and is at times misleading I particularly take issue with the following points.

“All options, including the possibility of remedial works, have been explored but none of the options identified would immediately reduce the significant health and safety risk the dying trees are causing”.  Firstly we have a report that says the trees are in decline not dying.  The actions in the Parish Council report rebalancing the crown, and reducing the length of certain heavy branches by up to 1.5m is designed specifically to reduce the risk of failure of the trees and immediately reduce the health and safety risk.