Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Trees Felled on Easter Day
This in my mail bag this morning from a local resident:
I don’t know if you are aware of the felling of all the mature trees in the BDC car park on Easter Sunday morning.
The time was clearly cynically chosen as an opportune time to evade any enforcement action – from 8am to 1pm on Easter Sunday – and was ruthlessly executed. I was alerted by the very loud noise which I had thought it was road surfacing, and went to have a look at midday. On phoning Haringey emergency services at about 12.30pm, they told me that other calls had been received and ‘would be passed on to the tree officer’. An hour later last vestige of these imposing trees had been reduced to tree stumps. I spoke to a shopkeeper and a stunned resident watching from nearby who had called the police – the police had no interest in intervening. All the people watching from the neighbouring Langham WMC were clearly aghast, too. Context: I learnt from a shopkeeper that the main part of the BDC site has just been sold by BDC for a multi-million figure.
This is just totally depressing – another cynical developer exploiting the neighbourhood with no reference to the local community or for the quality of life and the environment on Green Lanes Harringay or (in this case) the amenity value of long-standing trees.
There must be some way of finding out who had bought the site and keeping a very close eye on any further works which they attempt to carry out as well as planning applications.
Regarding the loss of these wonderful trees (as a shopkeeper said, there is only one mature tree left in the whole of that stretch of Green lanes, now) - there must be a means of (a) fining the perpetrators, and (b) getting the trees replaced by similar trees., and (c) imposing scrutiny and restraints on any further activity on this huge site.
This is very worrying and I would like to suggest that this is raised on Harringay Online without delay, as it raises so many issues – not only the immediate response which should be forthcoming from Haringey, but also the imminent works and Planning Applications. First, the new owners need to be identified – there is probably somebody out there who knows how to track them down.
I don’t know if you are aware of the felling of all the mature trees in the BDC car park on Easter Sunday morning.
The time was clearly cynically chosen as an opportune time to evade any enforcement action – from 8am to 1pm on Easter Sunday – and was ruthlessly executed. I was alerted by the very loud noise which I had thought it was road surfacing, and went to have a look at midday. On phoning Haringey emergency services at about 12.30pm, they told me that other calls had been received and ‘would be passed on to the tree officer’. An hour later last vestige of these imposing trees had been reduced to tree stumps. I spoke to a shopkeeper and a stunned resident watching from nearby who had called the police – the police had no interest in intervening. All the people watching from the neighbouring Langham WMC were clearly aghast, too. Context: I learnt from a shopkeeper that the main part of the BDC site has just been sold by BDC for a multi-million figure.
This is just totally depressing – another cynical developer exploiting the neighbourhood with no reference to the local community or for the quality of life and the environment on Green Lanes Harringay or (in this case) the amenity value of long-standing trees.
There must be some way of finding out who had bought the site and keeping a very close eye on any further works which they attempt to carry out as well as planning applications.
Regarding the loss of these wonderful trees (as a shopkeeper said, there is only one mature tree left in the whole of that stretch of Green lanes, now) - there must be a means of (a) fining the perpetrators, and (b) getting the trees replaced by similar trees., and (c) imposing scrutiny and restraints on any further activity on this huge site.
This is very worrying and I would like to suggest that this is raised on Harringay Online without delay, as it raises so many issues – not only the immediate response which should be forthcoming from Haringey, but also the imminent works and Planning Applications. First, the new owners need to be identified – there is probably somebody out there who knows how to track them down.
Tags for Forum Posts: 590-598 Green Lanes, BDC, hawes & curtis, tpo, tree protection order, trees
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Have you noticed that it's now no longer the BDC carpark but a "private" carpark. Not sure why they had to knock the trees down to do this though.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Update from LCSP meeting last Thursday:
There were, as Hugh says, TPOs on these trees and the council are establishing who the owners of the site are and will undertake legal action against them
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Update from LCSP meeting last Thursday 11th June:
The owner has been discovered and enforcement have 'called them in for an interview'.
Will continue to update as we get info.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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I did write to a couple of people about this but never got a response. I noticed this however in the minutes from the most recent LSCP meeting:
Tree Felling (ex BDC 590 Green Lanes)
LBH have accepted that, although Tree Preservation orders were in place, incorrect information was relayed both to BDC and the tree surgeons. Record-keeping procedures etc are now being thoroughly overhauled. Meanwhile, the new owners of the land are consulting with LBH tree officers with a view to planting new large-growing trees, such as ash or London plane.
So does this mean that the Council said it was okay to chop the trees down??! Unbelievable. I look forward to seeing what trees they will plant to replace them. What a ridiculous way to lose some very lovely and very old trees.
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You are absolutely right, Alison. The BDC chopped the trees down because they were told there was no tree preservation order on these trees.
In this evenings meeting of the LCSP, we discussed this and have decided to request that the council make reparation to provide more trees for the lost ones. The council seem to think that an admission of incompetance is sufficient to call an end to the matter. We beg to differ...
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Peasants! Both of them.
There is something else going on here. They were cut down on Easter Sunday morning.
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Thanks Liz. Is there anyone I could usefully contact about this, and anyone else from this site, just to add some more voices to the LSCP? I can't believe that there is a chance that no efforts might be made to replace them.
Must say I do agree with John as well, does seem very odd to do this on Easter Sunday if all above board and legit.
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Their "excuse" for doing it then was that they needed a day when BDC was closed and there wouldn't be much traffic.
The mistake happened because the council employee in charge of the tree register was absent. It seems the company phoned twice but received no written confirmation, told it wasn't needed.
One massive cock up
Not sure who to complain to, will try and find out.
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Permalink Reply by hob on
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Was there anything on this afterwards? Surely they would have had to plant replacement trees. If they develop that site into flats it would suit not to have the trees and the new owners would not have the responsibility replacing cut down the trees. NOTE: John McMullan was even using "peasants" back in 2009.
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I noticed that they had completely cleared the stump away that was in the middle of the carpark during the lantern parade before Christmas. Peasants.
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