South Acton Trees: Council Answers Questions

"Care was taken to minimise number of trees removed"

After shocked residents called for an inquiry last week when trees on South Acton Rec were chopped down, a Council spokesmen spoke to us about residents' concerns:

A Council spokesperson said: "Trees are very important to the environment and we have gone out of our way to ensure that building works do not have a negative impact on the greenery of the local area.

"Every care has been taken to minimise the number of trees that have to be removed and some of the original plans were even changed to avoid clumps of trees. Unfortunately there are still some which are directly in the path of the building work and they have had to be taken away, but they will be replaced with mature trees which have been specially chosen to thrive the in the British climate.

"We can also reassure residents that contractors will be using special building techniques to build around the very large London plane trees so they will not need to be removed. Builders will also be putting up special protective screens around remaining trees to ensure they're not damaged at all during the work."

March 20, 2008