Threatened trees in Stapleton wood worth half a million
Doomed trees at a beauty spot in Stapleton have been valued
at almost £500,000.
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Campaigners fighting to save them say they should not be
chopped down because of their worth to the community.
Last month Bristol City Council gave permission for
landowner Lord Houshang Jafari to fell the trees, which sit at
the edge of a wood alongside the River Frome.
They border Blackberry Hill, and the council says they could
fall on to the highway or hit pedestrians.
But people who have enjoyed the woods for years say the
trees are a feature of the neighbourhood and are worth
keeping.
Campaigners from the Snuff Mills Action Group have used an
assessment called the Capital Asset Value for Amenity Trees
(CAVAT) to calculate their financial worth. It takes into
account criteria such as size, height, condition and
popularity.
The campaigners claim the total worth of the trees is
£641,500, with the value of the 'non-hazardous' trees being
£481,754.
However, the council says they have massively overestimated
their worth, particularly given their debatable value to the
community.
Action group chairman Steve Micklewright said, "We have
undertaken an assessment of the trees that the city council has
given permission to be felled in Grove Wood using a system that
has been adopted by London's tree officers.
"We carefully made the assessment by measuring the trees,
assessing their contribution to the Stapleton Conservation Area
and looking for any problems such as disease, poor growth or
instability.
"While our assessment will not be as good as a professional
one, we believe it highlights that the council has
fundamentally misjudged the contribution these trees make to
the area.
"We lodged a complaint with the council in July, but we
weren't satisfied with its initial response so we've asked for
it to be considered by the council's chief executive."
The group says the council has not delivered on its
obligations to protect a largely ancient woodland in a
conservation area.
Mr Micklewright said: "The council has had several
opportunities to apply a tree preservation order to Grove Wood.
We just don't understand why they haven't done so. We hope to
get clear answers soon."
A spokeswoman for the council said: "CAVAT is used by some
councils to find an approximate value for publicly-owned trees,
based on the size of the trunk, height, condition and –
crucially – the number of people who have access to the
tree.
"CAVAT can only be meaningfully calculated by surveyors with
the information supplied by other experts.
"Britain's most 'valuable' trees are on Berkeley Square in
Mayfair and are valued at £750,000. This is for the reason that
they are enjoyed by millions of visitors a year.
"The trees 'assessed' by Snuff Mills Action Group are
privately owned and are not subject to CAVAT. In any case, the
figures supplied are unlikely to be accurate given the fact
that there is no public access to the site."
5 Comments
by Olivia Kennard, Stapleton
Monday, September 01 2008, 4:18PM
“Bristol City Council's reaction to the contentious activity going on in Grove Wood has been slow and lacking, to say the very least. It would seem that after deciding that it would cost too much to preserve a conservation area by purchasing it for public use (the way in which this area has been used for decades), they are also unconcerned about preserving it .
We currently have a mature, ancient and beautiful line of trees that form a perfect arc winding up Blackberry Hill. It is clear that some management is required, but why the need to cut 27 trees down when only in most cases, pruning is required? I think that we will see after this 'tree management' has taken place, what is really going on. Having already changed radically in appearance since early 2008, Grove Woods will start to look more and more like a building site. Will Bristol City Council be happy with that? Because the local community and the people who use these woods certainly won't be.”
by Richard, Stapleton
Thursday, August 21 2008, 8:02PM
“The council have given permission to fell some 27 trees in Grove Wood along the side of Blackberry Hill, which could commence in a couple of weeks time. However, the recent tree assessment by Snuffmills Action Group also revealed that amongst these are at least five Elm Trees and several large Lime trees, the latter presumably planted upwards of a century ago. Although privately owned, there is a public right of way through these woods and many greatly appreciate its amenity value. The more this area of woodland is explored, the more it reveals: the more confusing why the City Council has supported this tree felling. Ever greater reasons to save these trees now - at this eleventh hour!”
by lee, bristol
Thursday, August 21 2008, 8:02PM
“this jaffari guy has made so many people angry he seems to do anything he likes and gets away with it, he is destroying stapleton and stoke park too. damm you jafari. lets get green peace involved where is swampy when we need him!! i would just love the evening post to contact me so i can forward all the mails and complaints, bet they dont!”
by Steve Micklewright, Stapleton
Thursday, August 21 2008, 7:01PM
“Snuff Mills Action Group would be the first to admit that our assessment of the Blackberry Hill trees would not be as accurate as a professional one, but the Council's feeble efforts to discredit our assessment are just laughable.
Apparently our assessment will be inaccurate because there is no public access to the land, but the protest photograph proves otherwise and we were able to measure all of the trees unobstructed.
The Council says the trees have 'debatable value to the local community.' So the 120 people who objected to the proposal to fell these trees and the 250 who turned out at a protest in the pouring rain don't count then do they?
The Council says that these trees cannot be assessed by CAVAT because they are privately owned, but the CAVAT manual encourages its use for trees that are of 'public importance'.
We used the 'quick method' of CAVAT because the three things we had to do were to measure the trees, estimate their life expectancy and assess whether there was disease or damage that the guide describes as being 'obvious to a member of the public'.
The rest of the calculation is done using nationally available statistics about population and the value of trees. But we didn't have to do these calculations because they are all embedded in a computer programme.
Our figures may be an overestimate, but they could just as easily be an underestimate. Sadly the one thing we can be sure of is that soon these trees will be worthless because of Bristol City Council's reluctance to get involved and properly protect Grove Wood.”
by Jeremy, BS5
Thursday, August 21 2008, 5:08PM
“I cannot believe what our elected members are allowing Lord Jafari to do in our city. This is vandalism on a major scale. If the city reckons it is getting greener (see other headline in today's list) then surely it should be protecting the green areas we have. This space it particularly valuable because of the rare wildlife species that live there and the coucnil is actually obliged to protect areas of ancient woodland - which this area is.
I would encourage a mass demonstration outside the council house and make this an election issue. Don't forget who has been letting us down when you next vote. Has our local democracy completely lost sight of the wishes of the people? We must stand firm and fight this lunacy!”