Keeping Residents In Touch

The role of District Councillor has changed dramatically since the year 2000. Government policy and public awareness has meant that Councillors need to be more accountable than ever before to their electorate. Technology has also moved on and in Heyhouses your Conservative Councillors are at the forefront of adopting e-mail alerts, Blogs and Newsletters such as the Heyhouses Harrier to keep you up to date. Our monthly mobile Ward surgeries are also a vital face to face opportunity for residents to keep in touch with us. Finally the Heyhouses Branch committee, made up of volunteers, plays a vital supporting role in campaigning and fund raising. If you would like to play a more active role in your area and would like to become part of the team, then please get in touch. We hope you enjoy the Blog.

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Saturday 29 September 2007

Ashton Gardens Tree Removal Programme

As you are aware the work to restore the Gardens is about to start. As part of this project the Council has been working up a project to restore Ashton Gardens Historic Buildings and Landscapes. Part of the project will involve the removal of a considerable number of sycamore weed trees from within the gardens.

This is a normally accepted practice in the restoration of historic parks and gardens landscapes. This has been made perfectly clear in the bid documentation since 2000 and through the extensive consultation process undertaken with the community.

There are a number of reasons for removing the trees from within Ashton Gardens namely –

Ø The trees identified are in poor condition.

Ø We are looking to restore historic views and vista’s.

Ø We want to diversify the plant collection and establish a diverse range of understorey plant species within the gardens. The current canopy cover prevents this from being achieved.

Ø The gardens feels closed in and very oppressive, from a community safety point of view .We want to create an open and inviting landscape to encourage more people to use and walk through the gardens.

The works are enabling works prior to the start of the main restoration project and will involve the removal of 110 trees which are generally in a poor condition. The total number of trees within the gardens numbers 700 and the soft landscape element of the project will involve a certain amount of replanting.

The proposals have been developed by Bertram Hyde who are specialist historic landscape restoration consultants and one of the most respected landscape architects practices in the country.

Finally, there may be a need to remove further trees from within the gardens however this won’t become apparent until we have removed the identified trees. The work will be carried out in successive phases to ensure the best of the existing trees are retained and to minimise the risk of potential damage to good trees as the tree works are taking place.

Detailed plans will be displayed in the Park and residents should note that the Council put aside several thosand pounds in this years budget for new tree planting across the Borough.
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