Leave trees (From Penarth Times)

Leave trees

I AM writing in connection with the council's decision to pollard all the trees in the gardens area of Penarth.

Would it not be possible to prune them instead?

I feel that pollarding all of the trees at one go is very radical. Wordsworth Avenue has been done and the effect on the one road shows trees reduced from splendour to tall, ugly, deformed-looking stumps.

It will take many years for the branches to grow and they will certainly never regain their former splendour.

On looking around Penarth, there are much larger trees in Stanwell, Archer, Clinton and Cwrt-y-Vil Roads ( I note that in lower Cwrt-y-Vil Road, just one tree has been pollarded).

I would ask that they prune a selective few, as I do see that some may interfere with phone and electricity cables. I can't agree that complaints about the sap affecting cars warrants such drastic action. If the trees had been regularly pruned over the years (something I have not seen in 20 years of living here), this problem would not have occurred now.

I understand that trees that have been pollarded will always need this to be done. There will always be a danger of a weakness where the cuts have been made, making the trees susceptible to infection and rotting.

I also understand that roots of pollarded trees spread even further in their search for nutrition, no doubt resulting in more damage to drains, walls and drives.

The trees add character to the area. I want to live in a leafy suburb, where the birds can be heard, and not in an area where lifeless stumps stand. I have spoken to many people, some of whom agree with pollarding, but far more who don't. I do hope the council will reconsider their plans.

Sue Lane Coleridge Avenue Penarth