Development still prioritises the built environment
In May 2025, the Abbey Church ruins looked better than they had in years. The laburnums that once framed the derelict church however were long ago removed—ineptly or indifferently—by one of the site’s many owners, whose interests seemed more pecuniary than protective. Or perhaps they just hated trees. Plenty do, especially in their own—or their neighbour’s—gardens.
I cycled the Conservation Area that sunny day in May, hunting for mature trees and any with TPOs. Most of the trees with protection—some exceptions—sat behind private walls. Even so, they quietly make the public realm more bearable: lifting the skyline over those classical red rubble sandstone walls, casting welcome shade, sometimes cooling our streets.
That said most of the specimens I saw were not protected at all and among them in large numbers the much-maligned sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus). Seemingly despised almost as much as Leylandii1. And in the public realm a lot of Norway Maple, which doesn’t always look in great shape. Something local, like Betula pendula our very local alba species is especially likeable, but you have to go some distance to find them round here.
Fast foward a couple of months.
By mid-August it is usually the end of summer here (festival-goers will confirm), but with changing weather patterns this was another long and hot one. I re-visited the Abbey Church. The pictures say it all. The old sycamores at the back of the church that created a green oasis and verdant backdrop were gone, despite this being the wrong time of year to remove vegetation – birds are still nesting!
One solitary oak now holds the traffic island, but its still very much a young thing – a miracle it has survived unscathed, unlike some other Jubilee specimens around the county. Some scrappy shrubs survived the sad chainsaw incursion (massacre is a bit strong but it sounded like one); but little else did.
You must consult the council before tree work, and there’s a big fine if you don’t, but consultation isn’t protection and ELC are happy to explain that they have little or no capacity for enforcement. Which will make developers happy, and all of us poorer.
- A tree is a tree, I would have thought and there are plenty of very fine pseudoplatanus that can think of ↩︎