A stroll through Royal Victoria Park produced a few shocks for Andy Beveridge who wrote to say:
“Walking down the main diagonal avenue of Victoria Park a few days ago, (top right corner on map, near the Zebra crossing) we were quite shocked and disappointed to see the extent of recent damage to the base of many of the trees. It looks like something (ropes or cables?) has been strapped around the base of the trees and they have been subjected to enough force to crush and rip the bark layer.
See a few photos attached, and better still go see for yourself.
I am no arborist but the worst of this damage looks severe enough to effectively ring several of these trees. I am concerned that we will lose some as a result.
Even for the trees that are less badly damaged it is severe enough to let in infection that will be a serious threat to the tree.
Could this damage have happened during the recent fairground in this area? I cannot think how else this might have happened.
Surely we should not allow the fairground on this land if they cannot ensure the trees are protected?
I am also concerned that since the trees will take years to fully die the council then will not connect that result with the cause.
How do we get the right people to pay attention to this?”
Andy, l have taken this up with the Park’s Department and received the following statement:
‘We value our tree stock in B&NES and the older more mature trees are a particularly important element of our urban parks.
Like your reader we too were very upset to see the damage that had been done to these particular trees in Royal Victoria Park.
We are currently looking into how we can prevent this type of damage occurring in the future and our parks tree team will be monitoring them for any disease.’
