Campaigners are questioning Lambeth Council’s plans to immediately remove 44 trees from Brockwell Park

Lambeth Council has announced an operation to remove 44 trees from the Herne Hill side of the park.

After an assessment by the Lambeth Event team, just one week’s notice of the works has been given, with campaigners urgently calling for clarification as many of these trees will have nesting birds at the peak of the nesting season.

While some of the trees appear to be clearly dead or dying, some posters on the Brockwell Tranquility Facebook group suggest the work is being rushed ahead of the park’s festival season, which starts later this month.

In response, local councilor Jim Dixon made this statement:

Trees in Brockwell Park

The proposed works were identified following a proactive inspection of trees in the park’s event area.

Of the 44 trees on which notices have been applied, 22 are proposed for whole tree removal, with the remaining 22 being preserved as ‘monoliths’ where possible.

“Monoliths” are a form of standing habitat that provides an alternative ecological benefit to sitting logs, with examples of monoliths already present in Brockwell Park (eg 2 large poplars near the lower entrance to Brockwell Park Gardens and an Ash on the hill below Brockwell Mansion).

While tree removal/monolithic creation and other cutting work has been accelerated due to event occupancy rates *removal would still have been scheduled to take place but may have been extended over a slightly longer period 6 – 12 months long *.

Due to the nature of the felling of trees, they are exempt from the requirement to consult the Environment Act 2021.

However, the notices applied (by Lambeth’s tree team supervisor and myself) to the trees indicate the general reason for removing each tree/creating the monolith, be it their general vitality (dead or dying) or due to defects internal structural (internal degradation). caused by fungal pathogens or other external factors).

*Replacement trees are expected to be planted this winter planting season* however, certain locations and tree species may be altered to provide increased resilience within our tree stock.

Selection of species that can adapt to climate change or resistant to a certain fungal pathogen present in the soil.

There are over 1,600 trees in the park and a percentage will die each year. The council planted 90 trees last winter and will plant at least another 90 this coming winter.

Links to the Brockwell Trees campaign

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