Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Replacement trees to be planted outside Harringay McDonald’s
Following the hoo-hah back in July, this from the council
The McDonald’s franchise holder in Harringay has agreed to pay for the replacement of trees outside the restaurant following discussions with Haringey Council.
Eleven trees were removed from the site in the summer during refurbishment work on the car park. The franchise holder told the council that once work on the car park started, contractors discovered the tree roots had caused extensive damage to the drainage system, which is essential for surface water flood management in the area.
Tree works were not submitted as part of the application to make changes to the site. However, the trees were on private land and were neither in a conservation area or subject to tree preservation orders (TPOs).
In Spring 2023, a mixture of 12 new native trees, including birch, hornbeam and lime, will be planted by the council to improve biodiversity – eight in tree pits on the pavement outside McDonald’s, with four others nearby on Green Lanes.
Each of the trees will be typically 8-10 years old and up to 4 metres tall and planted with barriers to avoid the roots causing damage.
Publication date:November 4, 2022
Fair play to the council (and even to the franchisee). They've sorted it.
Tags for Forum Posts: mcdonalds, mcdonalds trees, trees
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Mahoney on
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This is good news. I think the plaudits should however be reserved for those young (and not so young) people who have protested on the site to draw attention to the removal of the trees. Without them I doubt that McDonalds, the franchisee or the Council would have done anything.
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Yes, it's surprising what a difference a bit of public shaming can make.
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Looks like a good deal for McDonald's. Get rid of the ongoing maintenance costs and keep the space in the car park.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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I wonder if they are doing this through the Trees for Streets scheme at a cost of £200 per tree. Pretty good deal for McDonald's if so.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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"Fair Play?" Hmm?
"Sorted it?" I have my doubts.
Can I please suggest a different definition of fairness in such cases. My suggestion would aim for a fairer balance between public and private interests. With a bit more "give and take"; a bit more win-win. With our elected Council at least trying to set some clear limits to private benefit. And to generate some permanent public benefits.
Maybe I've got this completely wrong, but on the face of it, this particular "sorting" looks very much as if public land - the pavement - is being salami-sliced to ensure private land gets 100% of the benefit.
More significant (at least to me) is the apparent fact that this pattern — the Public loses; private interests win — is a feature of most of the property deals our Council has done for many years.
Okay, I accept that this bit of public pavement for new trees is not perhaps going to bother too many people. But isn't the underlying principle similar to all the dodgy deals we've seen? And not just several years in the past. Millions - land or cash - ended up in the pockets of private businesses. In deals where currently, nobody seems able to tell the public the slightest smidgeon of truth.
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To be honest I missed the fact that the replacement trees would be put on the public pavement. This means the council will have to pay for their upkeep. To Alan's point, if this was fair then McDonald's would have replanted the trees on its own land and maintained them going forward. Now public space will be taken up and the taxpayer will have to pay for the arborial upkeep and the cost of that will increase as the trees grow. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have some trees back but it seems we've been robbed by McDonalds.
And will they remove the environmentally horrendous plastic grass?
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As someone said very eloquently on one of the other threads...arseholes!
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P.S. An attempt has been made by the current Labour administration to shed some light and fresh air on Haringey's past £millions-frittering property deals.
A report from Mr Colin Buss is included in the Cabinet Papers for 18 April, 2023. Here's the link. The item begins on page 141. The actual Buss Report starts on page 147.
https://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/documents/g10252/Public%20repor...
New readers curious to lift the lid on this iffy-whiffy stuff may wish to begin with the Ham & High newspaper.
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I went in to McDonalds a few weeks ago to ask about the trees, and pretty much got thrown out-always a good sign! Hope it rains soon or the new trees will die, even with their bags round them.
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It worries me that people may be focusing on street trees. While partly ignoring that perhaps the majority of trees are on land behind and to the side of houses and other buildings? At least that's what Google aerial views suggest to me. Maybe we should have a "People's Audit" of all the Borough's trees. Sometimes it seems they get thoughtlessly - or maybe deliberately - cut and sawn down at a steady rate. Is there a risk that a vast hidden arboricide may be underway? And meanwhile that street trees capture public attention like a green beautiful Potemkin Village?
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You are right Alan. I saw a map of the tree protection orders in Haringey some time ago. As you might expect, there are many west of the railway tracks and hardly any on the eastern side. That means there is generally nothing that can be done to prevent commercial and residential property owners from chopping down trees that don't suit their needs. Several very mature trees in the road behind mine have been removed recently to make room for fancy sheds which appear to be used as unofficed dwellings.
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