Redland Green's Ancient & Veteran Trees

Vassili Papastavrou 22 March 2020 

In December 2007 Bristol City Council identified four large ash trees on Redland for removal for safety reasons. Some members of the local community asked Treeworks Environmental Practice for an opinion. TEP are locally-based arboricultural experts and specialists in tree hazard assessment and management. Initial advice was that the trees could be retained (subject to a more detailed assessment) and that they were veteran and ancient trees. The trees were 300-400 years old and pre-dated the built environment. The one with two trunks is likely to be a former hedgerow tree. One tree has few branches remaining - almost a monolith and the other two are the largest trees on Redland Green. 

TEP offered practical measures to ensure their retention and provided us with BCC's policy on ancient and veteran trees which had been adopted a few years earlier. They highlighted the importance of such trees from a biodiversity perspective and offered practical measures to ensure their retention. The cavities in the trees provide habitat for a variety of animals, including 3 bat species and great spotted woodpeckers, which can be heard drumming in the spring. As time passed the considerable community interest in saving these important trees became apparent. There was also national interest as ancient and veteran trees are rarely found so close to the centre of a city. The trees were listed on the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree Inventory, and broadcaster Chris Baines wrote to the leader of the council urging that they be retained. The arguments for retaining trees such as these were presented at a Trees and Risk Conference at the Royal Geographical Society in London. 

BCC staff conducted another survey which backed up their initial decision to fell the trees. A more detailed risk assessment by TEP (funded by £2,500 raised from the local community) showed the trees could be retained and an analysis that was published in the Arboricultural Journal showed that one component used to calculate the risk had been over-estimated by up to three orders of magnitude. 

Following interventions by Stephen Williams MP and others, a decision was eventually made to retain the trees after all. In addition, the community provided BCC with funding to secure the long term retention of the trees with the expectation of community engagement in decisions regarding their future. However BCC does not consult with the community over these trees. 

The community members who came together to retain these trees then formed the Redland Green Community Group. 

References: 

Papastavrou, V. (2008). Are trees safe in the hands of the experts? Paper presented to “Tree Management for Public Safety: towards an industry statement”. London, UK: Tree Safety Group. Retrieved from https://www.treeworks.co.uk/downloads/blog/NTSG_Conference_Delegates_Booklet_COMPLETE.pdf

Papastavrou, V., Leaper, R., & Prytherch, R. (2010). Determining pedestrian usage and parked vehicle monetary values for input into quantified tree risk assessments—two case studies from Urban Parks in Great Britain. Arboricultural Journal, 33(1), 43–60. 

Papastavrou, V., 2019. Community engagement in urban tree management decisions: the Bristol case study. Arboricultural Journal, 41(2), pp.91-104.