Cartoon by John Sadler www.johnsadlerillustration.com

• WHY are the trees in Camden pollarded (Letters, November 28)? The Canopy Coalition has been asking the same question – why does Camden pollard hard and often times mixed species of street trees by postcode every two years?

We’re told it’s to prevent subsidence claims, but there’s no evidence that is the case; furthermore, there’s no record or study of the number of pollarded trees that have died, but I know in my ward of Cantelowes, which borders Kentish Town High Street, we lost 11 mature trees in 2017 all of which had been pollarded, seven of them Swedish Whitebeam (a species that does not tolerate pollarding).

We also know from Freedom of Information requests that neighbouring councils do not pollard street trees by postcode and they have experienced the same decrease in subsidence claims over recent years as Camden.

In other words, Camden doesn’t have to pursue this destructive policy of pollarding and stripping street trees to prevent claims.

We gave a deputation to Camden’s cultural and environmental scrutiny committee on November 6 and while there’s no conclusion, yet, we are making progress with our delegation.

We are now formalising our recommendations to the committee as requested. If you would like to learn more, please email CatherineWHays@gmail.com.

CATHERINE HAYS
Canopy Coalition
Camden Square, NW1