Dublin People - Council responds to tree planting criticism

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Council responds to tree planting criticism

Thursday, 06 March 2008

A LOCAL authority has responded to criticism of its failure to replant semi mature trees in a Northside area affected by fireblight.
Last year, Fingal County Council was forced to fell a number of medium-height trees in the Bayside and Sutton area after laboratory tests confirmed the presence of the disease.
Fireblight is a serious disease of plants in the rose family that includes hawthorn, rowan/mountain ash and whitebeam.
Dublin North East TD Terence Flanagan (FG) said he has been campaigning on behalf of local residents for semi mature trees to be replanted in the affected areas.
“I have been informed that the council will not be replanting semi mature trees,” stated Deputy Flanagan.
“Instead, the council is going to replant on a phased basis, resistant species, bare root standard trees (width 10-12cms).
“I am extremely disappointed with this decision, as the proposed trees will not replace the trees that were felled.”
A spokeswoman for Fingal County Council said that when the affected trees were removed in 2007, they gave a commitment to replace all trees removed with fireblight resistant species.
“This is still our intention,” the spokeswoman told Northside People.
“Where space is limited or where only a small tree pit in concrete or tarmac is available, it may not be possible to plant replacement trees for two to three years.
“In any replanting we must also maintain a five-metre buffer between trees and public lights so that mature trees will not block out the street lighting when fully grown.”
The spokeswoman said that unfortunately, the planting of semi-mature trees is not physically possible in many locations for a number of reasons. “Semi-mature trees have been carefully prepared for replanting so that they can be dug up with minimal disturbance to the earth around the root system,” she explained.
“This means that the diameter of the tree root system of a semi-mature tree, which is ready for replanting is often up to a metre wide.
“When planting these trees, the tree pit should be at least twice this diameter.
“Therefore, the grass margin or footpath would have to be almost two-metres wide to accommodate these trees which in many locations is not the case.
“Similarly, tree pits for semi-mature trees should be up to 1.5 metres deep.
“In most cases in residential areas, underground services including gas, electricity and water are placed less than 1.5m below the surface and, therefore, there isn't enough depth to plant semi-mature trees safely.”
The council’s parks department will, therefore, continue to plant bare-root standard trees approximately 10-12 cm wide and 3-3.5 metres tall, although where possible larger specimens will be planted.
“These younger trees also have a higher success rate in an urban setting compared to semi-mature trees and will, therefore, be a more effective long-term replacement for the trees removed last year," the spokeswoman added.

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