Batten down the hatches.....

We have loads of similar monsters @Jenny namaste - just one of many more examples, and while I am against trees being chopped down willy-nilly, there is a blind resistance to do anything with any of these big blighters, even if the plans actually make sense.

 

Our power has come back on after no leccy for 35 hours.

Shineyland didn't have any damage but there were loads of trees down on all the roads around this way. One of the main roads round here, a narrow, winding one between villages but still a bus route, had 17 trees down across it in just over 2 miles of road

 

Glad to hear you are safe and sound shiney, and glad you have got electric too

@Jenny namaste - I think its the councils (or TfL if its a TfL road) that are responsible for the trees, but I'm not sure. The defiance against chopping any tree down is quite ridiculous though - there was an instance recently where I was asked to do a road test to see if a large vehicle would fit around a new road layout; an entire supermarket car park, a road, and a bus stand were designed and built around a single tree, because they refused to cut it down. Best of it is that it is the most flea-bitten, horrendous specimen that you could choose to see!

If they had done it properly, and removed this tree, there would have been room for a row of maybe 6 or 8 new trees - - something nice like silver birch would have been ideal. But no, this old nasty thing had to stay.

 

Tree lined avenues are fantastic when you have a very wide road. When was the last time one of those was built?!

 

I'm all for preserving trees, and agree that they should never be removed simply as a matter of course, however there are loads around here that are nothing short of vast, and in very snug wee roads - apparently planted back in the 20's & 30's, they are now bigger than would ever have been dreamed, are breaking pavements and roads up, and probably even compromising the foundations of nearby buildings.

I just don't understand the extremes in this country - either hacking them down willy nilly, or completely against removing even the odd one or two.

I even know of one large tree that is on a pavement edge that gets walloped on a regular basis by large vehicles (particularly double deck buses) as it leans out into the road, causing fairly hefty damage at times, whilst also breaking up the pavement around its feet; its had many of its branches lopped, so its a properly weird shape now, yet despite this, the council are adamant that it cannot be removed. Again this is another prime example where one tree could be removed and half a dozen smaller trees planted in its place.

I reckon Jenny has hit the nail on the head though, its more to do with cost than sense.