Notes of the meeting between MVDC and Tree Wardens of Ashtead, Bookham, Fetcham & Leatherhead on TPOs and MVDC’s role in preserving trees.

Click here for details.

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Report from Frances Fancourt

The Tree Warden group was formed in 2012 when Lawrence Hole advertised for new people to join him and form a local group. He had been a Tree warden with the Tree Council for a number of years, but was not affiliated with any local organisation. I was already on the BRA  Planning sub-committee ‘looking after trees’, having offered myself to Bookham Vision/Vanguard as someone to carry the case for our local trees. They did not see a role for a tree person so passed me on to Stan Miles on the BRA Planning sub-committee.

Five people responded to Lawrence Hole’s call for more tree wardens, including myself. Lawrence’s aim was to plant a tree in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee under the Tree Council’s Big Tree Plant initiative. At the same time the BRA had suggested the idea of planting a tree for each year of the Queen’s reign. On  studying the Tree Council’s Big Tree Plant documentation I noticed that it was possible to apply for whole planting schemes running over 3 years, and suggested that we plan a 3-year scheme rather than plant just one tree. Hence the idea of planting 40 trees emerged.

We offered to carry out the planting on behalf of the BRA, investigated planting sites and forwarded our plans to SCC or MVDC as appropriate. Our planting methods and aftercare improved after time and we lost quite a few of the earlier trees for various reasons. Most have since been replaced, and many more have been planted. Once we started receiving approval from local residents and dignitaries alike the ball kept rolling. Residents called us asking for trees to be planted in their roads.

We have now planted trees in most areas of Bookham and a few in Fetcham along Kennel Lane. The 100th tree was planted on a soggy grey day in February 2016. It is a Prunus Sargentii which was specifically requested by the residents around the Barn Meadow Lane green, where we also planted two other trees.

We plan to continue planting with authority permission especially where requested by local residents, keen to see their roadside verges improved. We care for the trees ourselves but we also rely on residents to help us water the trees for 5 years after planting; thus the survival rate for our verge trees is greater than when planted by local authorities without local resident help.

Every tree makes a difference to the aesthetics of the environment. Trees absorb CO2, gaseous pollutants and remove airborne particulates from the air; they also moderate heavy rainfall improving areas prone to flooding.

Update – June 2017. There are now 113 trees planted by Bookham Tree Wardens and the Bookham Residents’ Association. Details are listed below

Tree Number:	Location:	Tree type:
1	The Dawnay School	Pin Oak
2	Polesden Lacey School	Pin Oak
3	Eastwick Junior School	Pin Oak
4	Barn Hall Field	Sweet Chestnut
5	Kennel Lane, Fetcham	Maple
6	Kennel Lane, Fetcham	Maple
7	Kennel Lane, Fetcham	Maple
8	Lower Road, 248	Red Maple
9	Lower Road, corner The Garstons	Maple
10	Chrystie Recreation Ground	Scots Pine
11	Chrystie Recreation Ground	Scots Pine
12	Chrystie Recreation Ground	Scots Pine
13	A246 near Fairfield Close	Maple
14	A246 Allen Road section	Oak
15	A246 Allen Road section	Copper beech
16	Crabtree Lane	Flowering Japanese crab apple
17	Crabtree Lane	Flowering Japanese crab apple
18	Crabtree Lane	Flowering Japanese crab apple
19	Crabtree Lane	Flowering Japanese crab apple
20	Polesden Lacey School replacement tree	Oak
21	Downsway	Red Maple
22	Downsway	Sorbus
23	Blackthorne Road	Scarlet Hawthorn
24	Blackthorne Road	Red leaf prunus
25	Halepit Road	Silver birch
26	Halepit Road	Whitebeam
27	Howard Road	Red hawthorn
28	Howard Road	Whitebeam
29	Hilltop Rise	Amelanchier
30	Hilltop Rise	Scarlet Hawthorn
31	Hilltop Rise	Sorbus
32	Dawnay Road	Prunus padus waterii
33	Dawnay Road	Prunus padus waterii
34	Dawnay Road	Pink hawthorn
35	Barn Hall field replacement tree	Oak
36	A246 Allen Road section replacement	Oak
37	A246 Allen Road section replacement	Copper beech
38	Kennel Lane, Fetcham	Maple
39	Lower Road near Eastwick Park Ave	Maple
40	The Garstons	Winter flowering cherry
41	The Garstons	Winter flowering cherry
42	The Garstons	Winter flowering cherry
43	The Garstons	Winter flowering cherry
44	The Garstons	Winter flowering cherry
45	The Garstons	Winter flowering cherry
46	The Garstons replacement tree	Winter flowering cherry
47	Crabtree Lane replacement tree	Flowering crab apple
48	Mead Crescent	Amelanchier
49	SCC field off Barn Hall field/Mead Cres.	Amelanchier
50	Mead Crescent	Flowering crab apple
51	248 Lower Road replacement tree	Red maple
52	4 Barn Meadow Lane	Pink flowering cherry
53	6 Barn Meadow Lane	Pink flowering cherry
54	8 Barn Meadow Lane	Pink flowering cherry
55	62a Barn Meadow Lane	Purple leaf prunus
56	Tudor Close	White bark birch
57	Sheridans Road	White flowering cherry
58	Sheridans Road	White flowering cherry
59	24 Durleston Park Avenue	Sorbus
60	29 Durleston Park Avenue	Sorbus
61	Durleston Park Avenue	Sorbus
62	Eastwick Drive near Meadowside	White Hawthorn
63	Hawkwood Rise	Weeping copper beech
64	Hilltop Rise	Purple leaf plum
65	25 Eastwick Park Avenue	Winter flowering cherry
66	26 Eastwick Park Avenue	Winter flowering cherry
67	Eastwick Park Avenue	Mongolian lime
68	Richmond Way	White bark birch
69	Richmond Way	White bark birch
70	Richmond Way	Maple variety
71	Richmond Way	Maple variety
72	Richmond Way	Maple variety
73	Richmond Way	Maple variety
74	Richmond Way	Maple variety
75	Richmond Way	Maple variety
76	Richmond Way	Maple variety
77	Richmond Way	Maple variety
78	Richmond Way	Maple variety
79	Harecroft	Maple variety
80	Harecroft	Maple variety
81	Harecroft	Sorbus
82	Allen Road	Flowering cherry
83	Allen Road	Flowering cherry
84	Allen Road	Flowering cherry
85	Allen Road	Flowering cherry
86	Vicarage Close	Sorbus
87	Lower Road	Oriental hawthorn
88	Lower Road	Oriental hawthorn
89	Lower Road	Oriental hawthorn
90	Lower Road	Oriental hawthorn
91	Lower Road	Oriental hawthorn
92	Lower Shott	Winter flowering cherry
93	Beales Road	Winter flowering cherry
94	Beales Road	Prunus
95	Beales Road	Hawthorn
96	Eastwick Park Avenue field	Silver birch
97	A246 Allen Road section	Sweet chestnut
98	Barn Meadow Lane green	Sorbus
99	Barn Meadow Lane green	Strawberry Tree
100	Barn Meadow Lane green	Prunus
101	SCC field off The Garstons	Oak (quercus robur)
102	SCC field off The Garstons	Weeping pear (Pyrus pendula)
103	SCC field off The Garstons	Liquidamber syraciflua
104 - 107	The Garstons	4 x flowering cherries: Prunus horinjii, Prunus Pink Parasol
108	The Garstons	Silver birch (Betula alba pendula)
109	The Garstons	Oriental hawthorn (craetagus orientalis)
110	The Garstons	Prunus Royal Burgundy
111	The Garstons	White bark birch (Betula Jacquemontii)
112 - 113	Vicarage Close	2 x Oriental hawthorn (craetagus orientalis)
114	Gilmais	Silver Birch (Betula alb. Red Panda)
115	Gilmais	Sorbus
116	Hilltop Rise	Prunus Royal Burgundy
117	A246 Allan Road section:	Copper Beech (Fagus sylvatica)

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Saturday morning February 13th 2016 saw the planting of the 100th tree on the initiative of the Bookham Residents Association in Bookham

 

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Tree Wardens and helpers stop for a cup of coffee after planting a tree in The Garstons.