The quality of, and communication around, work to deal with ash dieback was criticised at this month’s full council meeting.
Recent work to fell trees due to ash dieback at Honeysuckle Way on the eastern side of Brackla (pictured immediately following the works here) – and similar work elsewhere in the county – has caused anger and alarm among residents.
While Cllr. Eugene Caparros (Lab, Brackla East & Coychurch) was reassured that funding for tree works would continue – and there was no issue with felling diseased trees – contractors left behind what he described as an “apocalyptic hellscape”.
Debris and leftover wood were waist-high, leaving the area impassable. Cllr. Caparros also thought regrowth would be difficult due to the amount of debris, leading to the area becoming overgrown with weeds and brambles in the future.
He sought clarity on how the public and councillors can get advanced notice on where and why tree felling takes place. He also asked what steps were being taken to put the land back to a usable state.
Building upon the question, Cllr. Martin Williams (Ind, Coity Higher), asked what could be done to provide advanced warning of any “significant works” – not just tree felling. It follows a resident raising an asset transfer of green space which neither ward councillors nor the community council knew about.
This question was dismissed as “not being relevant” to the specific topic of ash dieback.
Officers accept “mistakes” in informing residents and councillors
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Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr. John Spanswick (Lab, Brackla West Central), agreed that the felling looked like “a disaster” and that a lot of work was needed to restore it to anything close to how it was.
It couldn’t be left to “natural regeneration”; there had to be a programme of replanting. A site meeting has already taken place regarding this.
Cllr. Spanswick did, however, warn that while there was some money for restoration works, there wasn’t enough money to deal with diseased trees across the county and country.
Officers also accepted there were “mistakes” in how nearby residents and councillors were informed (or not) about what was going on. Similar work is due to start “imminently” in another area and there are efforts to make sure nearby residents are at least told about this by letter.
Cllr. Spanswick also suggested councillors be trained on how to use the Bridge Map system, where they can see where these potentially dangerous trees are.
