Those protecting Camden’s trees should be wary

• I APPLAUD those who are trying to protect trees in the borough but they should be aware of what they are up against.

When we, as a residents’ association, tried to call the tree department to account for mismanaging the street trees in our area we were met with politeness tinged with tried patience. ­­­You can sum up their attitude as “we know best, we have our policy and we are not interested in changing it”.

Their explanations for almost all of our issues boiled down to cost which, we later discovered, were not always factual or true. On subsequent occasions we received the same response, restating the same policy like a record that had got stuck.

It seems to us that the trees department have allowed their role to be reduced from that of a guardian of the environment to an arm of the finance department. Where we see assets they see liabilities, where we see value they only see costs.

At the end of our only meeting, 18 months ago, the department promised to get back to us with the results of a study they were doing on broadening the variety of street trees in the borough. We’re still waiting.

HARVEY FLINDER
Member, Bartholomew Area
Residents’ Association
NW5