DESTRUCTION OF TREES ALONG N11 MUST STOP SAY GREENS

"I have been contacted by many constituents who have expressed their concern at the wholesale slaughter of trees which they see along the N11 because of the roadworks which are occurring there " says councillor de Burca. "These calls usually take the form of complaints. I was delighted however to receive a call recently from a group of local people who had identified what they felt was a workable solution to this problem. This solution was proposed by a Scottish tree specialist who has been employed by one of the locals concerned" she added.

Wicklow County Council Local Area Engineer, Mark Devereaux, met with the Green Party councillor, a number of locals and the tree specialist in the former Cullenmore Hotel, now the Sisk headquarters. "We had a very open and frank discussion about the council's tree-felling practices along the N11 route" says councillor de Burca. "Concern was expressed at what was felt to be the unnecessary death of huge numbers of mature trees, many of them oak trees. A solution was proposed which would allow for the felling of the trees, but which ensures that the root bulb of the tree is removed. It was then proposed that the root bulbs would be transplanted onto sites in the locality where local people would be willing to have the roots replanted on their lands" she said."Wicklow County Council has agreed to positively consider this proposal".

"This is a Win- Win solution for everybody" said Mr Ewen Mc Ewan, the Scottish tree specialist involved in the discussions."The death of mature oak and ash trees is unecessary if you can transplant them elsewhere. This process will not delay the council's work in any way or add to their costs" he said. "It will mean that many trees can stay in the locality and in my experience locals are usually very happy to offer them a home".

According to councillor de Burca this is a practice that should be considered by any local authority involved in roads projects, large or small. "It is not acceptable to the public that the development of our roads infrastructure ocurs at the expense of our natural heritage" she says. "This appears to be a very workable solution to the problem of the unecessary killing of trees for the purposes of road-building. It is my sincere hope that Wicklow County Council and other local authorities will give this proposal very positive consideration".

For further information please contact Deirdre de Burca on 086 8061450 or email deburca@wicklowgreens.org.