Trees in the streets
From:
Matthew Symonds
Date:
May 07 08:55 UTC
Short link
The Bristol Tree Forum is a great way forward to protect existing and promote
more street trees. I recall during my time working on home zones I saw a scheme
somewhere in the North East (I think) where because of underground services
they couldn't plant trees so instead they came up with the idea of Ivy Trees.
The Ivy Tree is basically a metal frame (sort of like a pergola, but in this
case shaped like a tree) with Ivy planted around the base. in a couple of years
the Ivy has completley covered the frame providing an attractive green 'tree
like' street feature but without the need to worry about big roots that will
disturb underground cables and pipes etc. To plant street trees you need to
have lengthy negotiations with the utility companies (and even then they can
say no) but you don't need that to plant shrubs like Ivy.
Ivy also provides a pretty good habitat for bugs and birds so good for wildlife
> From: > To:
> Subject: [GB-Forum] Trees in the streets>
Date: Wed, 7 May 2008 09:23:23 +0100> > Hi,> > I went yesterday to the second
meeting of the Bristol Tree Forum representing the Bemmy Partnership and thus
this e-group. The forum is concerned with trees generally, but the key focus is
on trees that contribute to the street scene, ie are actually on the highway or
very close. Over time it is hoped to increase the number of trees in Bristol
streets, but it's also necessary to remove some trees that are reaching the end
of their life. > > Planting trees in streets is exceptionally difficult and
quite expensive because under the ground there are all sorts of drains, wires
and what not that get in the way. The easiest thing is to put a tree into a
space that used to hold an old tree. However, over the years as trees were
removed, the council tended to tarmac over the hole. Today, the tree team (part
of Parks) does not have a record of all of these holes.> > To avoid this
problem in the future they are tending to leave stumps behind, a bit like a
bookmark. The Tree Forum are asking local people for information about where
trees were and might be again. If, therefore, you know of places which used to
hold a street tree, but have since been tarmacked over, let me know and I'll
pass the information on.> > Cheers, Ben.> > > Ben barker> > Info about Ben
barker: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/benbarker> > This topic's messages may
be viewed at: http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/6ER69GZAQy0Lg9mCpWJQhT>