Tree felling divides opinion

7:09pm Monday 28th July 2008

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Seventeen trees have been felled in an Oxford park, in a move which has divided the community.

The city council ordered the work on trees in Bury Knowle Park, Headington, as part of its tree management programme for the 32,000 trees it is responsible for.

Some residents feel the move is unnecessary, while others have praised the council for its safety-first attitude.

Julia Gasper was so concerned by the council's decision to fell the trees, she arranged for council tree inspectors to meet residents in the park.

Dr Gasper, of Trinity Road, said: "I'm very grateful for them taking the time to come and meet us and talk through the various reasons why the trees needed to come down.

"But I do feel that a lot of them still had a lot of life in them. This is just a case of the council being overcautious.

"I feel they are anticipating a tree that might fall down and are scared that if it landed on someone then they might get sued.

"But there is still a lot of vegetation on them and they look healthy and give the park so much character."

Council officers carried out a survey of trees in the city after the death of Angela Regoczy, 22, who died when a diseased tree fell on her family's car in Gloucester Street during a violent storm in October 2002.

The council said the trees in the park had rotting trunks and diseased roots and needed to be felled to protect people.

Kennett Road resident Stephanie Jenkins, who runs the online Headington and Marston neighbourhood forum, said: "I don't think that the council has taken the decision lightly.

"Even though they're still beautiful, they all have serious problems and nearly all of them are going to be replaced with new ones."

Jean Barnes, of Stile Road, said: "I like trees, but I think the council is doing the right thing to remove them.

"In the last high winds we had, there were a lot of trees that had branches fall down and I think it's better to bring them down now than have them fall over on top of someone."

But Lime Walk resident Lesley Hill said: "Removing the beautiful mature trees in the park is going to spoil it and to have 17 taken out in one hit will really be noticeable."

A council spokesman said: "The dangers of falling trees are well publicised and the council's first duty is to do all it can to protect Oxford's citizens.

"These results are robust and reliable and the council has a duty and a responsibility to carry out this work."