'Un-poplar' Rosyth trees for the chop
Published 21 Oct 2011 07:27
15 Comments
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RESIDENTS in Rosyth want to see the problem of an un-poplar avenue of trees rooted out NOW.
The row of poplars, located near the junction of Peasehill Brae and Wilson Road, are said to have stood for around 60 years and are around 80 feet tall.
Rosyth Community Council chair Mike Shirkie reckons they were planted when the estate was built, but said the trees have since grown at an "alarming rate" and not been cut since.
Residents' gardens back onto the trees and homeowners have previously raised health and safety concerns over falling branches with Greenbelt, which has managed land at Peasehill since 2005.
However, those fears have been heightened following the gales earlier this year - when five trees came crashing down - and recent adverse weather.
Greenbelt has now said it will fell all 67 trees, but with another severe winter forecast, residents want a definite date for work to start.
Mr Shirkie said residents "want reassurance that Greenbelt is coming on site now".
He said, "They're happy that the trees are going to be taken away but the bottom line is they have not had a date.
"We're now going into winter and the weather is going to deteriorate.
"They're absolutely towering trees - roots are starting to come through some of the back gardens and some of the branches that have come down are quite sizeable.
"There's a health and safety issue for residents as there's a potential risk of damage to the houses and for residents and children to be harmed."
Mum-of-two Sarah Horne (35) moved into her Peasehill Brae home six and a half years ago and said residents have been "trying to get Greenbelt to do something for years".
She said, "You should hear the trees in the wind - they're always screeching and cracking like they're waiting to come down.
"We have had whole trees snap and fall before and people have to park their cars out on the front street when it's windy.
"Whenever there's any wind at all I can't let the kids out in the garden.
"Branches have fallen next to the trampoline and play house and some of our neighbours have had their fences and summer houses destroyed.
"My son sleeps in the back bedroom and my daughter in the front, and we've got to the stage where we have to think where to put the kids when it gets really windy.
"We now think we should all sleep in the living room, that way we're all together.
"The gutters always fill up because of the leaves and the windows are always getting scratched because there are things falling against them."
John Beveridge, Greenbelt's head of customer services, said he did not have details yet of when work would start, and was waiting on responses from Fife Council and the Forestry Commission.
He said, "We have to have a safe system of felling the trees and a safe system of work, and we're waiting for them to say they're satisfied with what we have proposed.
"Until then we're not going ahead - if something did go wrong, liability would come back to us.
"Everything we have done has been in the correct sequence and we have advised the council every step of the way and now it's a case of waiting for the information coming back."
And Mr Beveridge continued, "As soon as we get that I'll send another circular to the 340 houses on the development about what's going to take place, when it will take place and how long it's going to take."
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DunfermlineEast
137 posts
Oct 21, 08:51
Report commentWait till the residents get the bill from Greenbelt for cutting the trees down; at £500 per tree time 67 that will be £33,500. They will really whine then and write to the paper to air their 'concerns'. When the trees are gone that will mean even more flooding in Rosyth as you will have lost trees that soak up thousands of tons of water every year.
The developer will also have had to protect the trees before planning permission was given, so they may need planning permission to remove so many trees screening out neighbours etc.
Recommend?
Yes 31
No 4
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******
Oct 21, 12:58
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ShahHoorsur
31 posts
Oct 21, 19:29
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Annoyed
2 posts
Oct 21, 20:27
Report commentThe article misses out on a few valid points that need to be mentioned.
1. Greenbelt Group have been responsible for the maintenance of these trees and this matter has been pursued with Greenbelt for over 5 years. All this time Greenbelt have been charging the residents for this lack of maintenance.
2. Fife Council have been very helpful and they are not responsible for delaying this whole process. This falls directly at Greenbelts feet.
3. For those that choose to complain about the trees being removed. Consider this, your child is walking through this area the next time the winds are strong and a tree fails!!
Please note for the tree lovers among you, the trees are to be replaced with a saffer and slower growing variety.
Recommend? Yes 8
No 7
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DunfermlineEast
137 posts
Oct 21, 21:29
Report commentAnnoyed. your comment misses several facts.
1.Greenbelt owns the land. When you purchased your house you bought the plot your house/flat is in. In addition your deeds of conditions made you pay a contribution toward common land. You do not own the common land, you only have a right to use it.
2. Greenbelt works for you, if the residents did not pursue the matter with Greenbelt then the issue is with the residents.
3. No one has been directly killed by a falling tree in the UK from any stats I can find. Your 'elf and safety' tripe does not look factual. The trees have been there for 60 years and your house for 4-5 years. The fact that they have stayed up that long proves that you are finding an issue and scaring yourself into thinking it is worse than you think.
4.80 foot in 60 years is not a fast growing tree, that is slow growing. Poplars make a noise in the wind as that is part of their strategy to stay up - a tree does not want to fall down and die, it wants to stay straight, towards the sun.
All in all this is a non-issue that an overly imaginative housewife with too much time on her hands has conjured up.
Recommend? Yes 27
No 8
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******
Oct 22, 10:48
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DunfermlineEast
137 posts
Oct 22, 13:27
Report commentI call BS - there are no trees close enough to any house in that area of Rosyth to cause windows to scratch. The trees were there well before the houses were built, so the owners would have known about them. Tough! Save the trees, cut down the fools who paid money to live in Rosyth.
http://www.bing.com/maps/#JnE9LndpbHNvbiUyYndheSUyNTJjJTJicm9zeXRoJTdlc3N0LjAlN2VwZy4xJmJiPTU2LjAzNDU2ODM0Nzc4MDElN2UtMy40MjUzMzY2NTUzMjg1MyU3ZTU2LjAzMDYzMDAwOTAzOTUlN2UtMy40MzcwMjAzNTc3OTc0
Recommend? Yes 10
No 6
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Annoyed
2 posts
Oct 22, 18:09
Report commentEsseQuamVideri - I may have missed some facts, however, I am not directly involved in this issue.
I do however, know the facts of the case as I have helped the residents in their dealings with Greenbelt.
Let me correct you on a few points -
1. The deeds and developer have confirmed that the residents own this land, not Greenbelt.
2. Greenbelt should have been maintaining these trees in such a way that they could not pose a threat to neighbouring property. If the trees fail and a number have already, they have potential to strike neighbouring property, therefore this is Health and Safety. FACT not tripe!
I don't know where your facts come from, but this type of poplar is aggressive and it has grown by circa 40-50 ft in 10 years. (this is fact)
I appreciate your point that the trees do not want to fail, however, sometimes the trees are not strong enough to prevent this.
Regarding your point that no one has been killed. Obviously, you need to check again! There have been a number of high profile cases where trees falling have caused death.
The trees will be removed and planted with a more appropriate variety.
Before responding, please check your facts.
And final point the residents will not whine when these trees are removed, they have been a blight on their lives for a number of years.
Recommend? Yes 7
No 7
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DunfermlineEast
137 posts
Oct 23, 09:52
Report commentAnnoyed? Foolish more like. Helped the residents? Before you do that you need to understand a few things.
1. 'Residents' do not own land, the owners do. Under Scots Law you cannot have 340 owners of land. The land is a commonty (where the rights of use and maintenance are shared by neighbouring landowners (the wee plots of land where the owenrs houses are), they are not therefore truly 'common' land in the sense that anyone can use them. The land will be 'owned' in trust via Greenbelt on behalf of the owners.
2. Poplar trees grow about 6ft per year, reaching full mature height of 60ft by 10-15 years. Unless Rosyth has some sort of geographical oddity that stops growth at 10ft for 50 years then spontaneously grows 50 ft in 10 years, then you are talking nonsense.
3. Trees do not fail, they fall down. We need to cut down every tree in Pitencrieff Park as children play there and people walk around, sometimes dangerously under trees. Oh wait, that would be stupid...like the owners thinking trees are dangerous.
Recommend? Yes 21
No 5
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ningin
85 posts
Oct 23, 12:51
Report commenti gather these are not a very pop(u)lar tree to have about ye
Recommend? Yes 9
No 1
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scott1970
23 posts
Oct 23, 14:51
Report commenttrees were there before the houses so if they dont like it move
Recommend? Yes 14
No 6
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joesbro
200 posts
Oct 27, 14:10
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Ulysees
40 posts
Oct 29, 22:44
Report commentLet me see if I've got this right - people are complaining because trees that have supposedly stood for 60 odd years are now 80 foot hight and they're dangerous?
Have you taken a walk down Middlebank Street in Rosyth over the last 20 years?
I'm pretty sure the trees there have stood for over 60 years, they're fairly tall and have managed to uproot the pavement, driveways and in some cases the main road. I haven't heard of the residents there complaining. It would seem to me in this ambulance / claim chasing society we're living in that the people making these accusations really need to address the bigger issue and question the individuals responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of these trees what preventative measures are in place should the worse happen before simply shouting "chop them down"
Recommend? Yes 6
No 0
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triskel
257 posts
Oct 31, 21:29
Report comment"Un poplar" trees? The Sun does that sort of thing. Is that what The Dunfermline Press aspires to?
Recommend? Yes 1
No 0
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******
Nov 1, 10:37
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******
Nov 1, 12:38
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Nov 1, 13:24
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Nov 1, 13:24
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******
Nov 1, 17:31
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Nov 2, 10:19
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******
Nov 2, 13:15
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Nov 6, 15:34
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Nov 7, 14:51
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Nov 8, 11:21
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R05YTH
1 post
Nov 8, 12:29
Report commentTIMBER !!!!!!
The "un-poplar" issue has been taken down a peg or 2 ;-)
Recommend? Yes 2
No 0
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376 posts
Nov 14, 12:36
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why0why
1 post
Jun 6, 13:11
Report commentI love trees. Especially very large pine trees which apparently have very small roots.
It's been great to observe them double their size at the rear of my home over the last 22 years without any care or interest from anyone and to see them regularly crashing down about us, always in the direction of my property. Yes, the piece of woodland behind my home definitely fits the bill for freedom of tree expression.
So in order of merit ---
1. I love cleaning my house roof and gutters on a regular basis.
2. I love to regularly clean up the mess that these type of trees leave in my garden.
3. I was really impressed when my fence was badly damaged and my plum tree destroyed when one off the giants on the other side of the fence came crashing down a couple of years ago.
4. I found it quite hilarious when my poor old wife during the 2012 storms jumped out of bed at the sound of trees falling and looked out to see a large pine tree lying in our garden making full use of our fence as a method of breaking the fall.
5. I don't like the way that the Greenbelt Group continually "lie" to me via the email system when I request help. I've even offered to pay for removal or capping.
Can anyone help me?
Honestly, I love trees but surely they have to be managed properly and allowed to grow where it is most practical and not as accidents waiting to happen on top of single storey homes. This problem is nationwide.
Recommend? Yes 0
No 0
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