Poplars To Be Felled

Twenty-two Poplar trees on Hartham Common are to be felled after experts advised they be removed.

East Herts Council will be replacing the Poplars with Hornbeams which are native to southern Britain and have a longer life-span. The trees border the car park at Hartham Common leisure centre.

The council called in tree experts after one of the trees fell, probably in recent high winds. They were able to carry out a more thorough examination than is possible during the routine inspections.

As well as examining the trunks, a climber checked the top of some of the trees for damage that might not be visible from the ground. Alongside damage from hornet clear-wing moths, the team found extensive evidence of dead and decayed wood in the crowns.

The report said: "The condition of the trees strongly indicates that they have reached the end of their useful life and have now become too weak to retain within such an intensively used environment."

Ten of the trees are too decayed to keep even in the short term, they found, while the remainder were partially decayed.

Malcolm Alexander, Executive member for community safety and environment, said: "We'll be sorry to see these trees go but they have a limited life span and the evidence is clear that it's not safe to leave them any longer. We'll be replacing them with hornbeams which are already doing well on the site. They're long lasting, attractive and native to southern Britain."