Love Sutton's trees

1:31pm Thursday 14th February 2008

An investigation into Sutton's trees has ended with a call to residents to show their leafy friends a little more love.

The borough-wide report from the sustainable communities scrutiny committee said more needed to be done to publicise trees and improve their appreciation by the public.

�Sutton is one of the greenest boroughs in London and trees are a significant part of the borough�s identity."

Councillor Paddy Kane

Sutton has more than 1,500 acres of parks and open spaces, as well as two cemeteries, a burial ground, five church yards and numerous allotments.

The park service manages 66,000 council-owned trees and various woodlands, including 22,000 street trees.

The committee's chair, Councillor Paddy Kane, said the purpose of the report, put to the executive on February 4, was to review how these trees are cared for in the borough.

"Sutton is one of the greenest boroughs in London and trees are a significant part of the borough's identity," Coun Kane said. "They enhance the quality of the environment, support biodiversity and help tackle climate change. Improvements to how Sutton manages its trees could have a positive effect on residents' quality of life."

The report recommended the council publicise the benefits of trees, plant more native species, increase the use of street cleaning teams to remove base growth and increase publicity for the problems affecting certain varieties.

In particular, the committee wants to pay attention to an increase in the prevalence of horse chestnut leaf miner moth, which damages leaves.

The trees are also affected by bacterial cankers and the combination of these problems has killed a number in the borough and across south London.

In response to the report, the executive head of street scene services, Peter O'Connell, said he welcomed the work done and believed the findings were generally very helpful.

In his written recommendation to the councils' executive he highlighted work already being done to maintain and improve the boroughs' existing tree population, while endorsing the majority of the committees' suggestions, budget providing.

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