At last nights Full council meeting it was agreed that the final draft of the Tree Strategy would be adopted and added to the Council's policy framework.
This has been a long time coming and has been something we have been campaigning for. Some residents remember hearing about this over 10 years ago! Since then they had to witness the steady decline of their local street trees. This is particularly apparent along Addington, Erleigh and Alexandria Roads.
It was great to see so many people had returned surveys or wrote directly to the council during the consultation.
The Lead Councillor for strategic planning and transport, Richard Willis, hit the nail-on-the-head when he said this new strategy allows officers to work in a planned and proactive manner, rather than just reactive - by merely cutting down trees when they become to dangerous.
Following historic under investment from Labour, it was good to see that this strategy will have secure financial backing. It is very important that maintenance and planting is fully funded in order to make this strategy work and flourish, despite the state of the national economy - again thanks to Labour.
I look forward to seeing the future planting plan :)
Comments