100,000 trees to be destroyed by Derby road scheme
Date: 12th February
A former Derby City Council professional gardener has calculated that the controversial A38 expansion, which has provoked a dramatic legal challenge from Derby residents, will cause the destruction of an estimated 100,000 trees.
Simon Beavis, 63, who worked for the Council in the 1980s, planted many of the trees, which were themselves planted as ‘mitigation’ for those that were lost when the A38 through Derby was first built.
The planned A38 road scheme includes major works at three roundabouts as well as widening of the road to three lanes each way between Kingsway and Kedleston Road. Numerous wildlife habitats are also to be destroyed.
Highways England, which is responsible for the road, has never counted the number of trees it is condemning, so Mr Beavis, who lives in Derby, decided to visit the areas affected and work it out for himself. He set out 20 square metre grids at various places along the route, counted the number of trees in the grid, then scaled up to the total area and calculated that around 100,000 would be chopped down.
Mr Beavis said: "Most people know that iconic trees will be lost at Markeaton Park and Queensway, but the scheme will result in the loss of so many more trees than just these.”
He added: “I planted some of these trees and have watched them grow and flourish, but it takes tiny saplings 40 years to replace 40-year-old trees, and all that it achieves is to shave ten minutes off people’s journey times in pre-pandemic rush hour conditions! This destruction is not worth the cost to nature.”
The trees to be felled currently support tens of thousands of birds, mammals, butterflies and countless other creatures, as well as fungus and lichens. They also absorb pollution and carbon dioxide. These include the much-loved 300-year-old veteran oak that has been named 'Middle Oak'. A single mature oak produces hundreds of thousands of litres of oxygen each year.
Joe Coles, an urban tree campaigner, said: “Until there is acceptance that large trees, taking decades to reach maturity, have significant value – a fact based on scientific evidence – we will continue to see spurious but convenient assertions that higher numbers of small replacement trees are adequate compensation to facilitate development.”
The UK Planning Inspectorate even admits that there will be adverse effects to nature in the short- and medium-term as a result of the removal of local wildlife sites along the route and veteran oak trees. Its report claims that the loss of these weigh significantly against approval being made for the scheme.
A Crowd Justice page has been set up by the Stop the A38 Expansion Group to raise funds to challenge the road scheme.
Highways England’s tree felling plans.
Notes to news editors:
Trees to be cut down:
· All the trees at Kingsway Island and its approaches from the south
· The trees alongside the boundary of Mackworth Park
· Virtually all the trees on either side of the road from Kingsway island to Markeaton
· All the trees on the central reservation
· All the trees on the southbound side from the River Derwent to Little Eaton roundabout
· At Little Eaton roundabout there will be a large area for the construction compound and most of the woodland on the Breadsall side will be destroyed
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/oct/12/importance-urban-forests-money-grow-trees and https://greenblue.com/gb/9-reasons-our-cities-need-mature-urban-trees/
Campaign website - a38derbychaos.org
Crowdfunder - https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/help-us-stop-the-a38-expansion/