cherry tree works

Essential safety works to Cherry Trees at Barracks Entrance

Urban&Civic will be carrying out essential safety works next week (15-20 June) to a number of the Cherry trees in the avenue that runs from Denny End Road into the main entrance of the former Barracks.

The cherry trees range in ages from 50-65 years old and following full safety checks by an arboriculturalist and damage to the boughs in recent high winds, 8 will need to be removed from the 28 which line the entrance avenue.

Rebecca Britton, from Urban&Civic, said:

“It is a real shame that these trees need to be removed as this approach to the Barracks is just stunning when the Cherry Trees are in full bloom. But they are unsafe and we cannot risk incidents as a lot of local people use the green area at the front and walk and cycle up and down this route.

“The trees will be replaced as soon as possible, and our experts have located some great specimens as replacements. With the heat and lack of water of the summer months ahead of us, we will not be able to plant these straight away, but will do this as soon as the planting season starts up again in October to give them the best start in their new home.”

The works will take place from Tuesday 16 June to remove the damaged trees. The new trees will be like for like, but will be 8-12 years old, and so about 14-15 feet tall. Their age is ideal to enable their root system to establish quickly and grow well, enabling the avenue to be more robust in the long term.

“The avenue was planted in one go and with ornamental trees, which makes it hugely attractive at full blossom, but now means that a number of the trees are reaching the end of their life. We now have a management approach in place which means we can monitor and maintain the avenue, replacing trees as we need to and establishing a robust and stunning entrance between the village and the development for the long term.”

The trees are not under any Tree Protection Orders and wood from the trees will be retained with the aim of using it in future areas of the development, as part of wayfinding, artworks or features within the landscape.