Environmental group opposes 'drastic clearout' of Clonmel town centre trees

An article written by Richard Madden in The Nationalist two weeks ago supports the Tipperary County Council plan to remove all the town centre trees from Clonmel.
Crannach welcome the opportunity to respond to the article and the points he raises.
Firstly, however, we would like to remind readers that the 2,300 people who signed the tree petition to date are not simply calling for all the trees to be retained.
In fact what the petition is calling for is an “expert review of the decision”, which is very different.
And the council continue to refuse this. Crannach have always accepted that a number of the trees are unhealthy and clearly need replacement.
But from the outset of our campaign we have pointed out that no tree survey took place to assess the viability of the healthy trees within the context of the new Urban Design Plan for the town.
Tipperary County Council paid JBA Consulting to carry out an environmental assessment of the plan which ran to 58 pages but incredibly these experts made no examination whatsoever of the 45 trees in the town centre.
As the trees are the only vegetation on O’Connell and Gladstone Streets, people may reasonably ask why an expensive environmental assessment did not subject them to some sort of examination.
The article refers to the issue of public consultation and maintains that due process was followed correctly.
Crannach has previously flagged up concerns about this aspect of things. Of the 156 submissions by the public there were 45 negative comments about the tree removal.
Even the report of the Chief Executive of the council on the Part 8 consultation admits this, stating:
“A large number of submissions raise concerns with the removal of existing trees, with the exception of the trees that are in poor health.”
But nothing was done in the way of a review to reflect this public concern. Yet a review of the lighting proposals in the plan was triggered by just 27 negative comments of the 132 submissions on this topic. What does that suggest about the council’s tendency to override public opinion when they don’t like what they are being told? Richard Madden’s article quotes another council argument that “the existing trees and planting throughout the town will become obstructive to the clear thoroughway of footpaths which will require the existing trees to be removed”.
This makes no sense at all. The new footpaths will be considerably wider due to the reduction of road width to a single carriageway giving more space for the existing trees.
Professor Gerald Mills from UCD came to Clonmel in September last at the invitation of Crannach to look at our trees and to give a lecture under the Main Guard entitled: Greening our Towns.
A keynote message from his talk was “work with what you’ve got”.
He told us that it will take 40 years for new trees to deliver the shade, shelter and water absorption qualities of our existing trees.
We all now know we have at best 10 years to arrest climate change and that summers will be hotter and winters wetter no matter what we do.
We will be glad of our existing leafy trees in the tough years ahead.
At the end of his article Richard Madden hints that the Save Clonmel’s Trees protest may in some way prevent Clonmel getting funding for the new Urban Design Plan.
Unfortunately, this kind of argument is often raised to railroad poor planning. The reverse situation may actually apply here.
The growing awareness of the need to avert climate and biodiversity disaster is finally getting through to central Government, and plans which take on board the new realities may be in fact be more successful.
Crannach remain robustly and firmly in support of the new Urban Design Plan, and of new tree planting throughout the town centre and beyond.
We just think that we can do much better than the drastic clearout of every single tree in the town centre and that this is old fashioned and lazy planning at its worst.
Of course Crannach also recognise that there are those in the public who would prefer an open streetscape with a neat row of identical new trees, small in stature and regularly spaced.
Their opinion counts too. But let’s hear what the experts say before it’s too late. After all that’s what 2,300 people (and counting) are asking for.
Crannach is a Clonmel-based group dedicated to the protection, promotion and planting of trees in and around the town.
The group is currently planting trees in 20 school grounds in a project led by local businessman David Anchell and funded by his Camida company.

Removal of trees in Clonmel will enable Tipperary's capital town to be enhanced