Threatened Hereford trees festooned with wool

7:30am Friday 8th March 2013 in News

The threatened trees with their woolly graffiti The threatened trees with their woolly graffiti

MULTICOLOURED scarves appeared this week around 14 lime trees set to be removed by the Highways Agency to make way for an additional lane on Edgar Street, Hereford.

‘Graffiti knitters’ keen to stop the chop added their woollen protests to the trees – already featuring ‘Save Our Trees’ signs – under the cover of darkness, hoping to raise awareness of an issue that has already attracted 176 formal objections on the council’s website.

The council is standing firm, however, and is working with the Highway Agency to design a proposal that would “mitigate” the loss of trees.

A revised plan is expected to be submitted by March 31 to include “replacement tree planting” according to Councillor Graham Powell.

“We are mindful of local environmental concerns over the potential loss of trees,” he said.

While the replacement of these limes with taller, narrower trees may temper environmental concerns, local historian David Whitehead argues the significance of the 14 trees – each over 100 years old – is also historical.

Mr Whitehead, among others, is calling for a tree protection order to be placed on the limes.

Comments(18)

silentbull says...
8:14am Fri 8 Mar 13

Won't be long till the council announces that its 'vandalism'
The police will get called in and threaten everybody involved with arrest.
Its a mad world

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TwoWheelsGood says...
9:12am Fri 8 Mar 13

The trees will go with a few platitudes and half hearted promises from politicians and the City will be the poorer for it. As the original application included 'mitigation measures', I don't see this has benefited much from the Council 'standing firm'. The trees are not however over 100 years old - I believe they were planted in the 1960's when the road was laid out.

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mizza21 says...
11:07am Fri 8 Mar 13

What a nice way to protest.
You'd have to be really heartless to order them to be removed so as the trees could be cut down.
Another heart wrenching protest could be childrens toys or children's drawings and women sobbing.
No man can resist a woman sobbing surely.
Surely it's not beyond the wit of the council to plan a way to keep them?

I love the way the Hereford Times has reported this article with such sensitivity. I would expect nothing else from such a fabulous organ though.

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fordshire77 says...
12:12pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Just had my gas and electric bill though....im going back to heating the house with just the fire in the livingroom,where can i get this wood once the trees are cut down? hate to think its just going to turned into saw dust when it could heat my house!

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Ubique5740 says...
12:57pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Mizza21 , stop creeping to the HT.please be yourself, speak your mind again - it's always been the truth, and for that I do thank you for bringing a smile to my old wrinkled face which has attended the University of life spread over many years.

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mizza21 says...
2:49pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Ubique..
I don't want to get censored. I reckon if I am complimentary about this fabulous publication, which is a bargain by the way, even at it's revised price of £3.20, I will neither be censored nor reproduced.

I am hoping to squeeze in a few salient points amongst the platitudes, such as critiscising the council over their planned killing of the lovely Lime trees.

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TwoWheelsGood says...
3:52pm Fri 8 Mar 13

For once, its not the Council (directly) killing these trees, although God knows they've had plenty of practice eleswhere. No, this is our good friends in high places, the Dept of Transport, or some such nomenclature. They have applied to the Council because the trees are in a Conservation Area. The Council are empowered to refuse the application ...

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mizza21 says...
4:29pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Right, bloody Highways Agency.
They have stuffed Hereford enough with the ASDA roundabout.

I'm off there with some of me kids pictures to staple em to the trees.

Possibly a candlelit singing vigil later

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Major disaster says...
5:05pm Fri 8 Mar 13

How about tying some yellow ribbons round the lime tree's for the safe return of our armed force's from various conflicts around the world, cutting them down then would then be in very bad taste.
Why do we need another lane there anyway it would cause even more congestion and confusion to the already congested/confused road system in Hereford. Driving through London is quicker.

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TwoWheelsGood says...
6:57pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Mizza - genius - staple your kids to the trees - that should do it!

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littlewhitebull says...
9:30pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Great posts - keep them coming!
Anybody know the significance of this knitting as a form of protest? I've not seen, of heard of this before.
I notice the HT referred to it as graffiti - why?
Yarn graffiti (yarn bombing?) was seen in the USA - but this was probably more artistic.

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dippyhippy says...
10:16pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Some brilliant suggestions here,well done you lot! Hope you've all lodged your objection,there are only a few days left. I must say I was a bit disappointed they say they have only received 176,I had hoped for a significantly higher number. Stapling the kids to the trees is definately worth a thought - a friend of mine runs a local Brownie group - they would be sure to get a badge for doing that!
Also love the yellow ribbon idea, so if stapling the brownies was not permitted under some ridiculous health and safety rule,we could use ribbon instead! Midlands Today would film it like a shot!

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WYSIATI says...
8:03am Sat 9 Mar 13

I don't know if the trees need to go - if they do then that's life. But can't we have a commitment to plant trees - some areas set aside (surely there should be some areas in the new developments that are earmarked - put in a mix of broadleaf natives - with some for the short term - birch rather than ash these days and some to leave a legacy - oak I would say).

Maybe even have the opportunity to do it by private subscription - it's the sort of project people would like to be able to contribute to.

You never know they might even put an area aside for firewood production in a coppice so that fordshire77 could heat the house.

Have they got any plans or requirements on the developments to ensure that it's as green as possible - biodiversity and energy too? Great chance to be ahead of the curve - has it been taken?

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The Russian 1 says...
12:16pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Why not just build the new lane to the left, there must be 3 meters of spare land on the market side. Or is that too simple?

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TwoWheelsGood says...
12:26pm Sat 9 Mar 13

That’s what the majority of objectors suggested and is the simple solution. But, of course, this is now private land and no doubt British Land were not remotely interested in rejigging their design and nothing could force them. Yet again, a staggering lack of foresight by the Council.

As for planting trees elsewhere - a) the Council's record on such promises eg the High Town trees, is that they simply lie and don't do it and b) the immediate area already has way higher levels of air pollution than legally allowed and the trees do help to soak that up. Without them, and of course with even more cars standing in 3 lanes, its not a place you want to breathe in the fumes for very long.

The OLM will be pared to the bone environmentally, only what is required by Building Regs and not a penny more. As far as I can recall there was little or no demand by the Council for any additional environmental measures or for public art or for any number of enhancements that could have been asked for, or indeed that could have been bought for, say, £0.5m.

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William Rudd says...
7:01pm Sat 9 Mar 13

WYSIATI . & TWG.....Again.
If you look at the plans for the OLM you will see there will be around 200 trees planted around the site.
I'm totally against the removal of these trees,the extra lane will serve no purpose.
Lights need turning off.Simple.

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dippyhippy says...
2:26pm Sun 10 Mar 13

The trees MUST stay. The council has the power to do this,and there are common sense solutions. Its not enough to say they will plant new ones - we want these.

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Grid Knocker says...
9:54am Sat 23 Mar 13

Sorry to let the facts get in the way of a good story....but the 14 Lime trees on Edgar Street are 46 (not 'over 100') years old.

They were planted on the specific instructions of the (then and last) City Surveyor Graham Roberts, who master-minded a) the new Greyfriars Bridge and b) the Ring Road and c) the Steels Westgate (aka Tesco) roundabout.

Graham died last November and many of the Edgar Street tree campaigners are suggesting that it would be a very macabre 'memorial' to this public servant if the council had the trees chopped down

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