Welcome to the Save Our green Spaces (SOS) website
SOS Cambridge AGM and Green Networking Forum
On Tuesday July 12th we are holding an AGM for our members followed by a Networking Forum with a guest speaker.6:30pm AGM
6:30pm - 7:00pm AGM for SOS Cambridge membersReports from Chairman and Treasurer.
Election of committee.
7pm Green Forum - Trees in Urban Spaces
Green Networking Forum opens with drinks. 7:30pm Main event with our guest speaker Dr David Brown, who will be speaking on Trees in Urban SpacesThis will be followed by questions, various speakers from the floor and general discussion.
The venue is the Cambridge Union Society in Round Church Street, Cambridge.
Century old plane trees in Alexandra Gardens still under threat from Council
Insurance company tells council the trees are responsible for structural problems
Late 2010 Cambridge City Council proposed heavy pruning and/or felling of several mature trees in Alexandra Gardens
The City Council initially stated that these trees must be butchered or felled because an insurance company has said that they are causing structural damage to a nearby property.
There was a public outcry. Local expert opinion was that this was not the case, and the Council said that it would reconsider their options.
A local group was formed to fight the proposed tree works. Alexandra Gardens Tree Group
Many meetings and discussions took place. The residents' group produced a comprehensive analysis of the alleged subsidence and submitted this to the council
The residents' group asked an arboricultural consultant David Brown to investigate the problem, and he produced a short report
Unfortunately in 2011 the council officers have not changed their mind, and have recommended in their 'full' summary report that the trees be heavily cut back
Here are some additional background documents worth reading before responding to the public consultation.
Alexandra Gardens Tree Group video presentation
ATGT arboricultural consultant report (omitted from council's 'full' consultation report)
Submission from Councillor Todd-Jones
Summary submission from Councillor Todd-Jones
We maintain that in the absence of compelling evidence that the trees are causing subsidence, or for that matter that any subsidence is occurring, the Alexandra Gardens trees must not be further reduced.
In the public consultation PLEASE PERSUADE COUNCILLORS TO STAND UP FOR THE TREES
WRITE NOW to the official address AND to your local councillors, AND the councillors on the planning committee, AND Councillor Rod Cantrill who, as executive councillor, will take the final decision
Ask them to stand up for the trees against the demands of the insurance companies!
Please also write to the local papers
Email addresses:
Official consultation email address
Your local councillors (and Cllr Cantrill) email addresses can be found here: Councillors
Members of the planning committee email addresses can be found here: Planning Committee
Note that even if you wrote in last year, you must write again with another objection!!
Don't forget to include your name and full postal address in order to be counted(!)
The deadline for the public consultation is the 28th February but keep writing to councillors and the papers!
There will be a public meeting at St Luke's Church hall on Monday 28th February starting at 7pm to hear the officers report and to discuss their conclusions and proposed actions
Trees now planted on Midsummer Common
The long round of consultations have now been completed and the trees have been planted on Midsummer Common
Threat to England's ancient forests
Defra consultation: Future of the public forest estate
Brian Eversham's blog - Wildlife Trust
The Woodland Trust - Save England's ancient forests
Trees are under unprecedented threats from pests and diseases
Canker, blight and moths kill our trees
Stagecoach demanded Victoria Avenue chestnut tree branch lopping
Cambridge City Council have finally had to accede to demands by the County Council Highways department that several large tree branches on a chestnut tree adjacent to the 'Armadilloo' on Midsummer Common be lopped off because they overhang the bus layover bay.
Trees were damaging double-decker buses. Click for video
It appears that insurance considerations finally prompted the cutting work which was witnessed by the SOS chairman. Ironically Stagecoach had long complained that the trees were damaging their buses, although the reverse was certainly true - bark had been ripped off several limbs by bus movements over some period of time. Despite the company denying the fact, Stagecoach drivers mount the pavement with their vehicles before straightening up in the bay, further endangering the tree branches at a greater height, and nearer to the trunk than necessary.
Clearly the layover bay should either not have been created there, or restricted to single decker vehicles, or double deckers prevented from damaging trees by restricting where they park. It appears that despite lengthy negotiations, the county highways department were not willing to make any changes to the bus layover bay, so the trees had to be lopped. In the spirit of greater transparency and public participation over tree matters, it would have been good if we had been made aware of the situation at the recent tree seminar, as public pressure on Stagecoach and the councils might yet have brought about a change in the situation, and prevented this event, and indeed future occurances. In our opinion, keeping this issue under wraps has not been a good policy.
We consider the above events to be a very unsatisfactory, and will be making representations to city and county councillors. You might like to do so yourself. The new executive councillor for Arts and Recreation, with responsibility for the green spaces is Cllr Rod Cantrill (Newnham), and he and your local city councillor's contact details can be found here and your county councillor can be found here [16/07/10]
Urban tree survey
A three year project has been announced to map our urban trees. The aim is to discover how climate change is affecting when they flower and fruit. The public is being urged to take part in the survey, which is being organised by the Natural History Museum in London. [16/07/10]
Cambridge Tree Seminar
The City Council held a tree seminar on 1st July. Participants were given a number of presentations by council officers, and then participated in a number of workshops where tree planting strategies for Jesus Green and Midsummer Common were mapped out. These were then displayed to the whole group. Officers will now collate the results and work out a proposed planting scheme. It is planned to plant trees over the coming winter. Inveterate blogger Richard Taylor attended, and has written up his experience. [16/07/10]Tree planting
Following the big freeze, many new trees have been planted on Jesus Green and Midsummer Common [18/01/11]