Pruning of Trees on Barry Road

[trentk69]

Those of you that have used Barry road within the past few days will have noticed that some of the trees on the left side of the road have been pruned back by the council - they are looking very bare indeed!

I personally think it is a good thing, and I want to know if they will do all the trees on the road, or just a selection of them?

Does anyone know if this information is available?

[BigED]

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/downloads/download/2389/tree_maintenance_schedule_2010-2011

Southwark council's tree maintenance schedule. To be honest, it all seems completely haphazard what gets done, when, and to what standard, but at least there is this to check against. The link says it's 2010-11 but it gets more up to date than that.

[Vilmos]

But they do tend to bush out at the base when they are stripped back. They have been stripping the trees back like this for several years now and in my humble opinion they have totally ruined them.

[intexasatthe moment]

I wish the contractor or some knowledgeable tree person would explain why they have to be quite so severely pollarded .

I think they look awful .

[Only me!]

Worlingham Road has also been "done"

& yes, in the short term it does look drastic.

But .... having seen it a few times before, the trees do seem to come back at least as vibrant

& maybe even stronger.

They have also replaced the few tress they have had to remove over the last few years, so all in all, my observation would be that, short term visuals aside ..... the trees seem to be being looked after OK.

[treehugger]

I hate the way they look too, but my husband explained that it makes them stronger in the long term and it also means they don't need so much water which is good if we have our normal dry weather (not this year though) and reduces potential subsidence due to roots...

[intexasatthe moment]

Surely any pollarding would reduce the amount of water needed .

I don't understand why so much has to be taken off .

I know they'll come back but we'll have all winter to look at them like this .

I guess we still have trees but only for some of the year .

The pollarded ones have the characteristics of a pole ,not a tree .

[wonderwoman]

We're on Friern Road and I think they could really prune the trees here, literally blocking sunlight and I've heard some residents saying their satellites being affected but the Council have told us that cutting them would encourage more growth so they stopped doing it so often. However it seems like a long time since they did a proper survey or did any cutting

[BecsBex]

I live on Barry Road and they're busy pruning the trees as I type. Sorry to get all First World Problems on everyone but I really hope they don't reach my place today. The leaves provide a lot of privacy into my living room and block the ugly building site across the road. Shame they have to prune them so early - goodbye, summer...

[intexasatthe moment]

The RHS says "The least favourable time for pollarding is the autumn, as decay fungi may enter the pruning cuts ".

But of course if pollarding is done prior to the annual autumn leaf fall I guess Southwark reduces the work load for street sweepers and saves money .

I can't find words to express how unhappy I am to loose so much of these trees and to have the street scene so radically altered .

I live in an upper flat and like you Becs can see every detail in the living room opposite me .

I'm off to search for that thread on rescuing a nest as I believe there was mention of discussion of Southwarks tree pollarding policy at a Community council meeting .

[intexasatthe moment]

Robin Crookshank Hilton wrote ( on stranded birds thread )

" There are discussions going on about whether severe pollarding is the best way to address regular tree maintenance "

and

" in addition to planning, trees are another one of my passions and I work very closely with the tree department. As Peckham Rose has suggested, I definitely intend to ask them to attend a Dulwich Community Council meeting "

Robin - any more info on the discussions ? Can anyone contribute to them ? Has there been any outcome ?

Will this be discussed at a CC meeting ?

[Mick Mac]

You aren't in texas, are you....

[rch]

Hi All... I've been liaising informally with the tree dept on this. I believe that the pollarding schedule was put on hold for a couple of weeks until any nesting birds could leave the nest.

My understanding is that there is going to be a public Tree Maintenance consultation shortly, I'll let you know when it's launched so that everyone can respond.

There appears to be two views on the concept of pollarding... one view is that the severe pollarding saves on maintenance costs overall by overcoming the need to prune the crowns of the trees every two or three years. The other view is that the pollarding actually increases the maintenance costs because the severe pollarding creates basal growth all along the trunk of the trees, which then needs trimming every year - you can see the columns of growth all along some of the trees that were pollarded in the spring.

I haven't been able to schedule an item about Tree Maintenance at next week's DCC meeting (which I'll update on another thread), but I'm going to see if we can do it at the November meeting, January at the latest (tree planting season runs from Sept to March, but the maintenance works run all year round).

[intexasatthe moment]

Thank you for this Robin .

For me I think the impact of the pollarding is greatly increased by it being done now and the sudden move from trees in full leaf to bare sticks .

I have never known it be done at this time of year before .

Will the RHS view that autumn is the worst time to carry out this work ( risk of fungal infections to the trees ) be considered when these protocols are discussed ?

[uncleglen]

Maybe they are doing it now so that the leaves don't fall and clog everything up in the very near future.

[intexasatthe moment]

Well yes ,I've suggested that the timing might have been planned to reduce street sweeping costs .

[srisky]

I know nothing about how much and when trees should be pruned but purely from an aesthetic perspective it's going to be a real shame that Barry rd is going straight from summer to winter with no autumnal hues lining the street this year...

[jimbo1964]

It's a shame to be missing the autun colours. It looks awful.. like a nuclear winter.

[intexasatthe moment]

Never been pruned at this time of year before .

And Royal Horticultural Society's advice is that autumn is the worst time to prune/pllard trees because it leaves them prone to fungal infections .

[BecsBex]

Agreed on the nuclear winter comment. Barry Road looks like a wasteland now. I'd have liked an autumn but hey-ho...

[uncleglen]

It used to be lovely walking along kicking up leaves but nowadays you would probably kick up dog poo or someone's discarded chicken box

[treehugger]

One of the nicest, if not the nicest street in ED. I really hope they know what they are doing....

[intexasatthe moment]

I guess they've had to make savings .

But who knows - presumably it's a more tricky and therefore costly job to pollard trees in full leaf as opposed to after the leaves have dropped .

And how we feel about such a drastic change to our environment doesn't come into it I suppose .

I am really upset though ,very shocked by how it looks .

[RaYMOND]

I have just seen these trees and they look disgusting, and i use to be a tree officer for southwark council, even i wouldnt have gone this far ,ahhhhhhhhh this road looks bleek now

[uncleglen]

I drive down there evry day and it's getting worse and worse and they still haven't finished. Jimbo 1964 sums it up- nuclear winter alright.