Bromsgrove District Council 'has no idea how many trees it's chopped down in the last five years' - The Bromsgrove Standard

Bromsgrove District Council 'has no idea how many trees it's chopped down in the last five years'

Bromsgrove Editorial 6th Jul, 2019   0

BROMSGROVE’S Conservative leader was forced to admit the council has no record of how many trees had been cut down in the district over the last five years.

Councillor Karen May said it did not count the number of trees cut down but did however keep track of what had been planted.

“Over the last five years the council has planted approximately 200 specimen trees on our own land – for example in Sanders Park.

“We have also planted approximately 4,000 to 5,000 small hedgerows all over the district.”




As part of the council’s planning consent process, all new developments must include the planting of trees.

Coun May said the policy meant in the last five years there had potentially been 200 to 300 more specimen trees planted and several thousand hedgerows thanks to developers sticking to agreements.


But Labour leader Coun Michael Thompson and Councillor Harrison Rone-Clark said they would be putting forward a motion at the next full council meeting asking the council to record ‘every tree it cut down’ and calling on the authority ‘to plant two trees in its place’ to compensate.

Coun Thompson said: “It’s difficult to imagine how, as a council which claims to be committed to playing our part in greener issues, we are not doing this already.

“We were shocked when we suspected it was not logging the number of trees being cut down.

“However, what is done is done and, here, we are offering a feasible solution to make up for it.”

Coun Rone-Clarke added: “I am hopeful with this motion we can work with officers, not only to keep a log of what we do, but to act responsibly to replace them.”

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