Council urged to axe its plans to chop down trees
MOVE A ‘BACKWARDS STEP’
PLANS to fell more than 100 mainly mature trees as part of a new facelift scheme at Queens Gardens have attracted dozens of objections, with some describing it as “a backward step”.
The main engineering and landscaping works proposed as part of the Hull City Council-funded £11.7m project go before the authority’s planning committee next week.
When they do, it is likely that trees will be the biggest talking point.
For the current project envisages retaining only 29 of the city centre park’s existing 143 trees along with one of five current groupings of trees. Among the trees facing the axe include the distinctive avenue of poplars running along the central spine of the park.
The plans suggest planting 107 semi-mature replacement trees as part of a more open-plan design for the area as well as planting another 108 standard trees at other sites around the city centre, including 20 at the Bonus Arena and 12 outside the Hull History Centre.
However, more than 60 objections have been submitted with most concerns being raised about the loss of mature trees with some claiming it would turn the park into a “sterile, soulless paved-over square”.
Others say the new trees will take decades to reach maturity, leading to a noticeable loss of green space in the city centre.
One said: “Too many mature trees have been ripped out in and around the city centre recently.
“Hull is a flood risk and has the lowest tree coverage of any city in the entire country.
“In an era of climate change, Hull City Council has a responsibility to protect our mature trees, not rip them out and replace them with young trees with less than 5 per cent of the original tree coverage.”
Another said: “Any promise to plant saplings is not an appropriate measure to compensate for our loss.
“Areas with fully mature trees like Queens Gardens make Hull an attractive green city, promoting tourism, air quality, and climate.
“New planting will not meet this need in any of our lifetimes and this removal will therefore be a substantial cost to the council, businesses and the people of Hull.
“Mature tree canopy is very important in reducing heat in cities, improving air quality, and contributing to the city’s green credentials to moderate climate change.”
Another objector added: “I strongly object to these planning proposals, which do nothing to move the city of Hull towards its aim to be carbon neutral by 2030.
“Indeed, the cutting down of so many mature trees and addition of so much sterile paving are likely to increase carbon levels and exacerbate air quality in the city.
“We simply cannot afford to be so cavalier with our few mature specimens, whose ability to capture carbon and provide habitat for many and varied species far outweighs that of saplings, even when planted in numbers.
“These proposals miss a golden opportunity to create an eco-friendly site that would not only assist with the city’s climate change goals, but could also allow the showcasing of environmental solutions such as forest gardening, green walls and plants that improve air quality.
“An eco-park would undoubtedly be an attraction in its own right and could easily sit alongside Hull’s maritime heritage, art and culture.”
A number of mature trees along the Guildhall Road entrance have already been felled because of safety concerns over the structural stability of the old dock walls, which form the boundary of the park.
A design report outlining the thinking behind the facelift says removing many of the current mature trees will improve views across the gardens and allow more space for events.
However, a separate report by council planning officers says: “The loss of the biodiversity value and wider ecosystem services of the trees both as a consequence of the works for which permission is sought, and intended otherwise, is regrettable from both biodiversity and wider amenity perspectives.”
Despite this, officers say they generally support most of the proposals around the trees adding: “The size and quality of the proposed tree stock is considered to be of high quality and will go some way to mitigating visual impacts of the loss of the mature trees around the gardens.”
Other proposed design features include new public art, crane-style lighting columns and terraced seating areas.