Bristol City Council - Not Getting It - Episode 1

Those in charge of Bristol City's street trees are currently excelling themselves.

So we'd like to spend a few days reflecting on how unaccountable officers in the Parks Department have the power to change the entire appearance of a city without any consultation, and commission work that seriously damages the city's tree stock, as this photo illustrates:

We covered the stupidity of putting a Lime into the row of Ashes in Ashgrove Road, and putting an Ash into the avenue of Limes in Kellaway Avenue a while ago.

In our next few posts we'll examine the legacy being left for our descendants by people with no training in Urban Design or Landscape Architecture, with no grasp of the health problems associated with Heat Island Effects, without any of the medical understanding of how trees ameliorate urban pollution, and with no understanding of the benefits of large canopy trees from many other perspectives, including urban drainage systems.

After all, if you train as an Arboriculturist you don't need any other skills to butcher a tree, and if you get to plant them you can even have fun leafing through tree books, choosing inappropriate species to impose on the people that pay your wages.

Let's start at the top of Whiteladies Road. Where the Alders (not long-lived, or large growing trees) have been replaced with Ginkgos. Not Limes or London Planes or even Norway Maples, as further down the road. No, slow growing, ineffective Ginkgos.

And why has this been done?

These trees are useless as street trees in all but one way. They grow really, really slowly.  And that means they will not become a problem to the Parks Department for at least 100 years. They don't even have big leaves, so there's no sweeping up in the autumn.

Brilliant thinking, Bristol City Council.