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Thousands of healthy, mature trees are being felled across the UK, victims of risk-averse insurance companies and councils who say that the trees are causing damage to neighbouring properties.
Make your own stand and plant a tree in your garden this year.
Trees play an important part in regulating pollution and climate in towns and cities, but are falling foul of insurance companies and councils who are felling healthy, mature trees in their thousands.
An unusual contest is taking shape during the London mayoral campaign: candidates are fighting to see who can promise to plant the most trees. Boris Johnson has pledged to put up 10,000 street trees in London while Ken Livingstone has described the Conservative candidate's target as "incredibly unambitious" and claimed he will plant 600,000 trees by 2012.
All the time, however, trees are being removed from the capital, and in other cities across the country, because of health and safety issues, security fears and, most commonly, insurance claims and threats from loss adjusters.
For the Gildea family, the mayoral promises are too little, too late. This spring, just as their magnificent plane tree should be coming into leaf in their garden in south London, they have instead had to watch it get chopped down after they were threatened with legal action by an insurance company.
Tiny roots from the tree had been found in a neighbouring garden, raising the possibility that an insurance claim could be made against the tree if subsidence – sometimes caused by tree roots causing clay soils to dry out and contract – was found in nearby houses. Such claims – even if spurious – routinely lead to the removal of street and garden trees in cities.
Denis and Hazel Gildea, aged 84 and 83, could not watch the destruction of the 150-year-old tree, under which their 5 children and 18 grandchildren had played safely for the last 54 years.
"My parents went away for three days. They couldn't bear to see it come down," said Edward Gildea. "It has left the most huge void."
Trees are being removed across the greater London area. Figures submitted to the London assembly last year found Harrow lost 5,000 street trees over the previous five years and was only able to replant 1,750, leaving a total of 16,000. That figure was typical of trends in many boroughs and does not include trees removed from private gardens like the Gildeas'.
There is now a gaping hole on the Gildeas' horizon but the family are determined not to let the insurance industry change the skyline forever: they have vowed to plant another plane tree next to the stump of the felled tree to celebrate Hazel Gildea's 84th birthday.
"When that is mature in 100 years time I'm confident the insurance company won't exist to be worried about it," said Mr Gildea. "It will be a symbolic two fingers for the insurance industry."
Promises: These are things that you have promised to do or avoid in support of a particular campaign or appeal.
To plant a tree this year
To help absorb C02, provide habitats for birds and wildlife and because they look great. - Promised by 2 users