‘Stopping pollarding doesn’t mean stopping tree inspections, that is just part of good management!’

• SO it goes on, the brutal pollarding of trees in Camden. Another attack is planned for Eton Avenue –19 parking bay suspensions.

They say they do this to protect properties from subsidence, that we live in an area built on shrinkable clay.

In fact this is done not because there is any evidence to show it works but because they believe they have to do this to protect themselves legally.

But the courts do not require this practice of councils in order to show due care and diligence. They’re worried about subsidence claims while over 40,000 people die every year in the UK from air pollution.

Around three people are killed every year by trees in public spaces, so the risk of being struck and killed by a tree or branch falling is extremely low. But that was a reason given by one councillor for continuing the butchery.

Stopping pollarding doesn’t mean stopping tree inspections, that is just part of good management!

A Friends of the Earth study rated Camden as the 13th most green-space-deprived borough in England, with 77 per cent of Camden’s population living in neighbourhoods with inadequate access to nature.

We have seen no indication of what steps Camden is taking to increase the area of green space at a time when population and population density are increasing.

There is no real commitment to reconsidering old habits. They haven’t even managed to stop using glyphosate weedkiller. Time to walk the walk.

KATHIE CONN
Haverstock Hill, NW3