'Where Have All Our Street Trees Gone?' - say Medway Liberal Democrats

Medway Liberal Democrats have discovered damning evidence that Medway Council are cutting down or removing more trees in our streets than they are replanting. Our Freedom of Information request revealed that from 2013 until 2022, Medway Council have felled or removed 2,609 mature trees from their land but only replanted 844. So, in the last decade Medway has seen a loss of 1765 mature trees in our streets and parks.

We understand there are many reasons why a council would need to remove trees. They naturally suffer from pest and diseases that cause them to die and, like all living things, trees can die from old age. Recent gales and high winds have caused some trees to be blown over and, in its duty to safeguard the public, the council will fell trees that pose a risk. But these events are predictable and should be factored into the Council's budget so that the trees can be replaced.

Walking the Medway streets people can see these empty trees in the pavements - sometimes empty for years. And more shockingly, we have seen incidents of these holes filled with concrete and tarmac. Clearly there is no intention of replacing these missing trees. Does Medway Council have a policy of removing trees from our streets?

Medway Council has organised mass tree planting over the last few years, most notably, planting over 10,000 tree whips across Medway in 2021. It might seem that these replace the missing trees, but these mass planting schemes have a high wastage in trees, and only a small proportion will reach full maturity. Because the funding was from external sources it meant that they could only be planted as small woodlands in parks and fields, and not in our streets where we desperately need them.

Stuart Bourne, Medway Liberal Democrat spokesperson says, 'The benefits of having trees lining our streets is well known. Not only are they beautiful to look at, but they also reduce noise and air pollution, lower the temperature in hot summers and act as an oasis to passing wildlife. The fact that Medway Council are not replacing the trees in our streets that they are removing is shameful. The Medway Tories like to say they want to protect the environment, to keep Medway green and beautiful, but there's little evidence they are doing that.'

Medway Liberal Democrats call on Medway Council and its Tory administration to publish the long-awaited tree strategy and make a commitment to replace every tree that they remove from our streets. We all deserve to live in a town filled with beautiful trees that line our roads, cooling us in the summer and reducing air pollution. Medway deserves better than just being concreted over.

ENDS