Re: the two Birch trees at 35 Yarnells Hill, which are now one birch tree, which will one day soon be four birch trees.

In December, permission was sought by developer from Vale to bring one tree down. It was clear that the work necessary for the planned development wasn’t going to be able to go ahead without losing at least one of the protected trees. If machines did the digging, both trees would be lost. If the work was done manually, only one tree was sacrificed, and they’ve promised to replace it with three threes.

I’ve recently learnt that a tree protection order doesn’t particularly prevent a tree from being felled. But it requires permission to do so, and replacement. By regulation, all he had to do was agree to replace it. That he’s going to put in three trees in is a good thing.