Exclusive: Community tree planting event a success despite council’s delivery of nearly 400 dead Oak trees.

Local community sadness as the delivery of their Oak trees by Havering council finds all but four dead.

Last weekend a tree planting session took place by Havering’s Extinction Rebellion and many members of the community. However, the event was nearly cancelled as when the Oak whips were delivered by the council, the team of tree planters were horrified to discover that all bar four, were dead.

XR Havering met with the council’s Parks department last Thursday morning to have a look at the Oaks and learnt that they had been heeled in bunches the whole time from receiving them until now which unfortunately isn’t sufficient for that length of time.

An a Havering XR spokesperson told the Havering Daily:

“Out of the 400 whips we had, only 4 survived – Parks team agreed that it was an awful failure rate, and said although it was a very bad year last year for Oaks, they probably hadn’t been watered enough and this was due to council staff time restraints.  Parks offered us 190 trees in replacement for last weekend so that we could continue the planting with the children as planned and we are happy to say this was a massive success. The whips came from the woodland Tree Pack, that Parks apply for yearly. The council have agreed to replace the 400 dead trees that were lost. To show commitment and partnership, the council have offered to plant these trees on their own time, although they will let us know when in case anyone would like to join them.

Havering’s Extinction Rebellion added:

“We were devastated to find that 396 of our 400 Oaks had died when we thought they were being looked after, especially as they were paid for by Havering residents who wanted to do something positive for their local environment. However, this just goes to show what happens when council staff are overworked and understaffed. We desperately need more investment in our parks and green spaces in Havering so that our local environment can be cared for rather than constantly left at the bottom of the list. We should all know from the last two years especially how vital our environment is.”

In response Councillor Osman Dervish, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “The London Borough of Havering and Extinction Rebellion Havering (XRH) have been working in partnership to deliver community volunteer tree planting events on 12 and 19 February.

“The events follow on from a successful initiative to purchase trees through community led crowdfunding with the trees being stored until planting season, enabling preparations to be made and allowing the very young tree saplings to mature.

“Unfortunately, a number of the saplings have since failed, which is not uncommon at this stage. The exact number of affected trees will be determined when our Parks Team meet XRH representatives this week and assess the condition of ones which are hoped to be nurtured back to full health.

“The Council is committed to supporting the upcoming community tree planting events and will of course be covering the shortfall in tree saplings.

“We hope the events will prove popular and not only support some of the wider Council tree planting initiatives, such as the creation of a memorial woodland within Hornchurch Country Park, but also encourage communities to be even more involved in protecting our environment and creating beautiful open public spaces.”