Demolished tree in Ulverscroft Road

[Sue]

Somebody appears to have taken a dislike to a tree outside 17/19 Ulverscroft Road.

There is nothing left but a stump.

Can anybody shed any light, because as far as I am concerned this is vandalism :(

[UncleBen]

Blase Council contractor tree butchers?

[LondonMix]

Maybe it was damaging their home. I have a friend who has been doing battle with the council for some time to remove a tree on the pavement that is causing his front bay to subside as it was planted too close to the house. Whoever did may have thought risking the fine was worth it to prevent the further damage. I'm not endorsing illegal behaviour but it can be a nightmare to get the council to deal with these things.

[intexasatthe moment]

Front bays were traditionally built without foundations .

Removing a tree may or may not help with a bay subsiding . Underpinning the bay would ,but I guess if you avoid this and shift the cost of tackling the problem away from the insurance company and house owner ,that's a result in some people's eyes .

[Penguin68]

Apart from direct root damage most tree related subsidence or movement is caused by water table alterations - and removing a tree (if large enough) can have just as bad an impact as allowing one to grow - allowing the clays to waterlog and expand can also put pressure on house structures. Signs of cracking are as often related to the removal of trees as to their presence - although many signs of (mild) cracking do not signify immediate collapse but are 'perfectly normal'. Surveyors, when they see recent small cracks, often ask if a tree has been growing and was removed close to the property.

It is to be hoped that the fashion for subsidence panic is beginning to wane.

[LondonMix]

Yes, heave caused by tree removal can be as destructive as subsidence. However, the instance I was referring to was fairly extreme. The tree roots are significantly bursting through and lifting up the pavement, they have repeated caused the garden wall to collapse and is causing quite significant subsidence to the bay. The simple fact is the tree isn?t being properly maintained. The branches have spread so wide that they literally touch this person?s house. I think trees along the street are beautiful but it really is imperative that the council then maintains them properly to avoid property damage.

[Sue]

This was a very small tree and I can't believe it could have been damaging the house.

InTexas, you are right about the bays.

I had a pin put through my bay years ago because of cracks caused by differential movement of the bay and the house, but as you say it was because the bay had no foundations.

The insurance company didn't even mention the tree outside my house.

I am really sick of people just destroying nature. I want to see greenery in my street, not a bloody tree stump.

I'm sure it can't have been the council, who would have removed the whole tree I would have thought, not left several feet of it. I suppose whoever did it couldn't be bothered to do the job properly.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Sue,

I have made enquiries about this one, yes this tree has been causing subsidence problem and this is why it has been cut.

Renata

[KidKruger]

This brings me onto the thread I started a few months ago about WHY the council will plant a tree 6 feet from the front window of a house KNOWING it will grow 40-50 feet tall, or bigger. The root footprint will obviously undermine the house.

The council don't have the courtesy to request permission/inform in advance the householders affected.

My neighbour has been screwed this way. If he destroyed the tree, I'd think it's out of order to kill a big living thing, but from his side why should his house which he's renovated be damaged because some tit with a clipboard painted a green 'X' on the pavement outside his house 10 years ago ?

If everyone had a CHOICE of a 50ft tree growing 6 ft in front of their house, they'd say no.

Green is great - that's what back gardens are for.

[KidKruger]

If the council cut a treed down with a view to terminating it then I think they put some chem pellets in the stump.

I've seen that elsewhere in ED.

[LondonMix]

KidKruger you are totally right. We all associate beautiful tree lined streets with an area being really majestic and that?s for a reason. To have really large trees growing on a street, the houses need to have large front gardens so the trees are a good distance from the front of the house. This is particularly true in South London?s clay soil that is particularly prone to shrinkage. Smaller trees need to be selected given how modest most houses and therefore front gardens are in ED and the council has to maintain them regularly (hard with budget cuts I know).

[i*Rate]

Sue,

Just call Southwark council and ask if they have removed the tree due to a subsidence claim, that's most likely what's happened.

Cheers.

[DulwichFox]

MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM, May 22 (MARKET WIRE) --

One of the UK's leading Insurance companies is advising homeowners to

control any plants and roots on their property in case they over grow and

damage their own house or neighbouring properties.

-- Tree Root Damage - If a person who owns land has a tree or other plants

growing on it and the roots cause damage to neighbouring properties,

they may be liable to pay the cost of repairing the damage. The

liability will depend on whether or not the damage was reasonably

foreseeable. Once informed of any damage caused by tree roots, the

person owning the land with the trees on must take steps to prevent

further damage.

Councils are having to cut down trees which may become a problem if allowed to grow.

They would be deemed responsible for damage to property damaged by trees.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/22/idUS69915+22-May-2011+MW20110522

Foxy

[KidKruger]

Foxy - if only it was that easy (with the Councils).

If it's your land/property being shafted by their tree, you have a huge financial outlay before they will concede their tree caused the damage.

I took photos of the tree blowing-out the pavement on our street and council said it wasn't necessarily the tree. they relaid the pavement, couple of years layer same thing, as tree grew the pavement blew-out again, council said not necessarily the tree. They recommended we dig our front walls up and get a surveyor to explore the contents of the hole and he sees tree roots down there, they will consider killing the tree.

It's ridiculous how such huge plants have been stuck in the gorund so close to houses.

[Sue]

Renata Hamvas Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi Sue,

> I have made enquiries about this one, yes this

> tree has been causing subsidence problem and this

> is why it has been cut.

>

> Renata

xxxxxx

Thanks Renata, but if that tree has been causing subsidence problems then surely so are all the rest of the street trees in the road, and indeed the whole area?

It was a very small tree, as can be seen from the diameter of the remaining stump.

[keane]

Trees at the top end if crystal palace road are all being chopped back by Gristwood & Toms while in full leaf with birds nesting yesterday & today why can't they wait til later in year?

[Sue]

Keane, that is another issue which is covered in another thread. Absolutely disgraceful and thoughtless, I agree. Poor birds.

Judging by what's left of the trunk, this particular tree in Ulverscroft Road was a Ginkgo biloba.

According to this website (about the effect of trees on subsidence in clay soil), they have a very low water demand.

I'm presuming that's one of the reasons they are planted as a street tree.

http://www.ivydenegardens.co.uk/Soil/whattodoaboutsub.html

[hoot]

I rang the council tree department about the removal of this tree and it was indeed due to a subsidence claim. The insurance company apparently proved the subsidence was due in some part to the tree and the council were compelled to remove it.

The chap I spoke to was very nice about the whole thing and said they hate having to do this and had in fact tried to appease the insurance company by pruning the tree. He also said that the tree was a variety that had once been deemed suitable for street planting but is no longer. He in fact gave me the Latin genus of that particular tree and many others in East Dulwich! (not remembered I'm afraid)

I asked if the council could replace the tree with something more suitable, particularly as a tree had been removed from the opposite side of Ulverscroft road a few months earlier. He said they would look into it and suggested I rang them at the beginning of October, as this is when they begin the tree-planting programme.

I really hope that the trees are replaced as I hate opening my curtains of a morning to a sea of huge plastic bins!

Matt

[Sue]

hoot Wrote:

He in fact gave

> me the Latin genus of that particular tree and

> many others in East Dulwich! (not remembered I'm

> afraid)

xxxxxx

Gingko biloba?

I'm pretty sure from the trunk that is what it was. There are a few other Gingkos planted in Ulverscroft Road.

It's an interesting tree with unusual leaves.

"Ginkgo biloba, or maidenhair tree, has been described as a ?living fossil? because it is the sole survivor of an ancient group of trees older than the dinosaurs."

[Sue]

hoot Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I really hope that the trees are replaced as I

> hate opening my curtains of a morning to a sea of

> huge plastic bins!

>

> Matt

xxxxxxxx

Same here.

I have noticed quite a few trees in Ulverscroft Road have disappeared over the years, and never seem to be replaced.

I had to really push the council to replace the one outside my house (the original one was removed because it was damaged).

[intexasatthe moment]

Looking at the suspended parking bays in Highshore Rd it looks like major works are imminent for the 4 mature sycamores at the edge of Highshore school's playground .

I'm going to cry .

[Sue]

The tree in Ulverscroft Road is no more. Even the stump has gone now.

All that remains is a tiny scattering of sawdust over the tree pit.

R.I.P. tree.

BTW I saw notices near Grove Park yesterday (or maybe in Grove Park itself, I can't remember exactly which road it was) to the effect that Southwark Council were giving residents a grant of ?600 to plant up tree pits in the road, as part of the Cleaner Greener Safer initiative.

Very praiseworthy (though it seems an awful lot of money for a few plants, especially as many of the pits in the road are already planted up with hardy geraniums).

Maybe the council could come and put some perennials in the holes left where they have cut down trees :(

[DulwichFox]

I noticed that the position of he tree was in direct line with a water stop cock.

So the feed from the road to the house would appear to go through the roots. or very close.

The tree should never of been placed there in the first place.

Foxy.