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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Why the Council has to prune our lovely trees in spring?

The Council has just pruned the tree in front of my window to the bare bone and it is doing the same with other trees in the area....I know there is much worse in life but the thing is quite upsetting given that it was just busting to life after a long, bare winter and the green crown is uplifting to look at .....

I wondered whether spring is the right seasons for pruning and from a quick search it does not seem so. Autumn is (which would make perfect sense...)

Any hints on why the Council is doing this now and whether it is the right thing to do? 

Many thanks

Candida

Tags for Forum Posts: trees

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hugh on May 30, 2013 at 20:19

I don't have an answer to this, but you may be interested to dip into other posts on this issue which I've linked with your post via a tag just under your text.

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on May 30, 2013 at 20:54

There's fairly detailed page on the Council website - HERE.   Though unfortunately the 2012/13 tree maintenance programme posted on the website only goes up to March 2013.

I suggest you write and ask about tree pruning in the streets you are concerned about.  Here's the link.

You might want to post the reply you get on HoL.

(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)

Permalink Reply by Newyork on June 4, 2013 at 8:44

HI all, 

as promised I am posting the response I received from the Council:

Dear Candida

Thank you for your enquiry to the council dated 30/05/13.

I have checked our system & we have no works being undertaken in this road. I can only assume the tree may be in the grounds of the school? For which we do not have any control over with regards to their tree pruning operations.

I would confirm that plane trees can tolerate heavy pruning all year round and it will cause not ill effect to the trees overall health.

Regards

Thanks the Council for their prompt response and to others of you who more or less said the same. Still bloody annoying that wherever we go you can mostly see bare trees. At least is reassuring to know that the trees can bare it.

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on June 4, 2013 at 9:02

This seems a bit odd. Presumably if trees are on the pavement outside a school's fence they are  street trees.

But perhaps the sensible thing is for council staff to ensure that the website is up-to-date. Then residents can check for themselves - especially if contractors are pruning the wrong roads.

Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on June 4, 2013 at 9:50

Candida. This may be partly my fault. The trees are all in the school playground (the Infants have pruned at least one, and I assume both of their trees). I mentioned the fact the tree crown was getting large and possibly unstable after so many years of no maintenance to the Junior head in the autumn last year.

To be fair they were getting very large, the one in the Juniors was more than half way across the road, and there is always a risk that if there is no regular maintenance that the trees could lose a limb or large branch in high winds. I indicated they should have a look at it and keep their eye on the issue. The last thing you want is someone hurt from a falling branch and the school being sued.

I was also very sad they were done in the spring. I always think pruning trees in the spring is verging on the criminal. When I spoke with the Junior headmaster in the winter about them I suggested they be done in autumn, but on the plus side I am glad they have not been completely pollarded back to the truck, and a great deal of the crown shape has been sensitively retained. This means they will look great next year, as opposed to taking a few years to gain some shape back.

Permalink Reply by Newyork on June 5, 2013 at 7:42

HI Justin, 

thanks for letting me know. Given the fact that you have a relationship with the school, It might be good, if you want to, to mention to the school management about the concern of the community about cutting the tree this time of the year. It won't change things now but at least next time they might consider to cut the trees in December. At the same time, as others have mentioned, they might have chosen this time of the year because of size management. In that case our concern would not really matter that much.

For all of you who have followed this debate, yes actually the trees were in the school court and because pollarding has gone on all over the place in the neighbourhood I assumed that it was the Council. 

Anyway, thanks very much for the engagement in this debate, I feel I know much more about city trees than before!

Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on June 5, 2013 at 9:42

I will raise it, but as I mentioned I really stressed when I first discussed it with the headmaster that it should be done pre spring or late autumn. Hopefully he forgot the discussion as he never mentioned to me work was being carried out- in fact the last discussion we had was it would not go ahead as the infants did not have money in the budget to fund their share of the three trees as part of the job lot quote they had received.

Hopefully it was just a slip, not a wilful lack of engagement.

Permalink Reply by Nick G-T on May 30, 2013 at 21:23

Most trees can be pruned early in spring. Pruning trees in late spring can weaken a tree as it forces it to use energy to re-grow which would otherwise be used for new growth. I may be quite wrong but it could be a tactic used by the council to slow the growth of a tree and save on pruning costs.

Permalink Reply by Newyork on May 30, 2013 at 21:39

Thanks Hugh, Alan and Nicholas, 

I have made an enquiry on the Council Website as Alan suggests and will revert as soon as I get an answer from the Council. 

2o21fske2ygv0Permalink Reply by 2o21fske2ygv0 on May 31, 2013 at 2:50
I would guess that they are pollarding the trees in order to limit the overall growth. This has several benefits, mainly on height and width of the tree but also reduces the need for root spread and its resultant damage to roads drains and potential for causing subsidance.

It seems late, but as spring was a bit of a non starter I guess now would be about the right time.
2o21fske2ygv0Permalink Reply by 2o21fske2ygv0 on May 31, 2013 at 10:28

It's the difference between countryside and city tree management. In Cornwall they stuck to winter pruning. In Bristol it was spring pollarding. You can let trees grow when they have the space, when they are enclosed you have to limit their growth.

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on June 4, 2013 at 12:54
Copy FYI
----- Original Message -----
From: Alan Stanton Tottenham Hale ward councillor
To: Haringey Council
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 12:46 PM
Subject: Tree maintenance programme - Winter works 2012-13
Member Service Request
 
Today the Council's website shows the Tree Maintenance Programme only up to March 2013. Can this please be updated as soon as possible so that residents are able to see the plans for their streets.
 
Can I also suggest that it would be helpful to include a few notes on the Excel spreadsheet referring residents to the paragraphs on the website giving information about street trees and their pruning/pollarding.
 
Thanks

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