Petition details
A Moratorium on The Felling of Trees
This petition is most present owing to the indiscriminate position Tower Hamlets has with regard to its trees. Further full compliance, as with other London Boroughs must be made in it concerns with regard to The Town & Country Planing Act of 2012, on protection of trees.
This Petition ran from 11/03/2021 to 31/05/2021 and has now finished.
114 people signed this Petition.
Council response
Thank you for your petition regarding “A Moratorium on The
Felling of Trees”. The meeting requested that I respond to
your concerns. I have provided my response below.
Tower Hamlets Council has a duty of care to ensure all of their trees are safe for the public to enjoy and benefit from. Tower Hamlets inspect all their trees cyclically, using qualified Arboriculturists and only fell trees if they are dead diseased or dying. The frequency of these inspections is determined by the tree’s target area, which is split into two categories; high target and low target. High target trees are inspected every 18 months and include trees in falling distance of a highway or play area. Low target trees are inspected every 3 years and include all other trees which do not meet these criteria.
We will only remove trees if they are dead, dying or dangerous and they will be exempt from public consultation. Felling notices are displayed on trees informing the public of our intent and where this can’t be achieved, felling notices are retrospectively displayed. It would therefore be incorrect to state that trees are felled without proper consideration or notification.
In regards to tree felling, the Council operates a robust policy of tree retention and has a duty under the Town and Country Planning Act to protect its valuable tree stock. This duty is informed by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the London Plan and the London Mayor’s Tree and Woodland Framework. All of these policies and guidance place a significant value on trees. As it stands, the Council will only routinely remove trees which are dead, dying, diseased or dangerous. This is in line with both national and local legislation and policy.
Further to this, the Arboricultural Team are committed to increasing and maintaining a safe tree stock across Tower Hamlets for residents, visitors and business owners to enjoy and benefit from safely. It is well evidenced that trees provide numerous health, social, economic and environmental benefits and this has seen in excess of 5500 new trees planted across Tower Hamlets over the course of the last two planting seasons. This commitment is further strengthened by the Mayor of Tower Hamlet’s Manifesto Pledge to significantly increase the number of street trees, in an attempt to combat poor air quality and improve health, social, economic and environmental outcomes across the Borough
I hope you find the above response useful.
Kind regards,
Ann Sutcliffe
Corporate Director - Place