More than 25 trees are to be felled in Sydenham Hill Woods to make an access road to REPAIR Cox’s Walk footbridge.
A Southwark council planning committee are being recommended to agree the application at a meeting tonight (6.30pm Ground Floor Meeting Room G02 – 160 Tooley Street, London SE1 2QH )
Reports submitted on behalf of developers say the proposed development seeks to create a temporary access road to allow for plant machinery and other construction vehicles to enter the site to allow for the subsequent works to repair and restore the existing Cox’s Walk footbridge. The site will be accessed off of the A205 (Dulwich Common), close to the T-junction linking to Lordship Lane. The proposed temporary access ramp will run from west to east to facilitate temporary access to the footbridge.
The proposed works to refurbish Cox’s Walk footbridge include:
- Installation of a new steel frame supporting the main deck steel. The frame will bear onto a reinforced concrete (RC) pile cap supported by screw piles located outside the footprint of the bridge deck;
- Demolition and reconstruction of the masonry abutments from ground level up;
- Replacement of the timber frame supporting the parapets;
- Refurbishment works such as cleaning/repainting steelwork, local concrete repairs, brickwork repairs to the piers; and
- Construction of new temporary access ramp to the embankment to allow construction vehicles to access the footbridge for the works.
In terms of the fabric of the heritage asset, as detailed within the arboricultural impact assessment (AIA) prepared by Waterman Group, a total of ten trees and approximately 18 small trees will be removed to facilitate the development. Of these, two trees were attributed a moderate category B grade, approximately 23 were awarded a low C grade and two were attributed a negligible U grade.
One letter of objection states: Together with my sister (a local resident), in 2020 we fought in court to have the rights of the trees upheld so that Southwark council would not needlessly destroy two large, mature oak trees adjacent to the Cox’s Walk Footbridge in order to carry out a footbridge repair which has been done several times in the past with no tree removal necessary but was suddenly intended to use a motorway contractor to carry out ecologically-sensitive engineering repairs.
“This latest proposed repair design instead intends to destroy 18+9 = 27 trees in the access envelope of the damaged footbridge. (It is interesting to note that, in the Waterman Group’s Sept 2022 Planning, Heritage, Design and Access Statement, they repeat the error of the initial application 18/AP/4034 by claiming that the two large mature oak trees adjacent to the footbridge were “impacting the structure of the footbridge” – the initial council reports thought that the trees’ roots were the cause of the cracks in the footbridge abutment walls, but later expert analysis found that it was instead ivy roots which had caused the cracks.
“It is relevant to note that Friends of the Earth won a successful court case against the government in July this year (2022) for the UK government’s failure to plan adequately to meet their legal environmental obligations to reach carbon Net Zero by 2050. https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate/govt-not-appealing-ruling-net-zero-strategyunlawful
“Therefore, if local councils want to avoid similar results, they need to be considering far more seriously their responsibilities for their part in reaching Net Zero by or before 2050, and approving an application to remove 27 trees with no plan for compensating the lost eco services is a clear dereliction of duty.
“I’m sorry to come across so strongly, and I certainly don’t mean this to be personal or an affront, as in general I am very much in favour of HELPING local councils to move us all towards a sustainable future; however, as Southwark council has previously shown such gritted determination to avoid their responsibilities in this area (ref previous court cases which Southwark lost in relation to the trees in this woodland),
“I am somewhat surprised that the councillors overseeing the council practices are now not guiding them more strongly towards truly sustainable and legal solutions, which necessarily means taking every action possible to AVOID ever felling a tree…
“The local engineering experts who have volunteered their knowledge to developing a repair of Cox’s Walk Footbridge WITHOUT damaging any trees would be delighted to work with the council on drawing up a suitable repair solution which retains ALL of the trees AND protects the rare flora, whilst also providing the necessary earth ravine crossing which enables Cox’s Walk to be safely restored to its former usability.
“Alternatively, local passionate tree-defenders can undertake, in conjunction with Treeconomics (part of the team which developed the iTree London Assessment), an estimate of the true value of the proposed trees to be removed (including accounting for the mycorrhizal fungi’s lost carbon;
as well as the recent Belgian research (reported by the BBC last week) which has found that all previous tree valuations have underestimated carbon storage by a factor of two, i.e. the estimates need to be doubled), and Southwark council can then pay that as environmental compensation, if approval is granted for the felling of 27 trees in a climate and ecological emergency.
An officers report to tonight’s meeting says that if the council is minded to approve the application, then the following measures should be implemented as a condition:
1. Submission of a construction environmental management plan that shows, amongst other matters:
- Issues of timing of vegetation clearance and disturbance re bird breeding;
- How vegetation, and soils within the Sydenham Hill Wood are protected from compaction, digging out, and made good, etc as part of the ramp works, and how any unavoidable damage is effectively mitigated;
- How other trees within Cox’s Walk and around the bridge are protected from damage;
- How appearance of protected species on site will be protected from harm; and
- thatthe recommendations set out in para 5.25 of the Ecological Impact Assessment (Waterman Infrastructure and Environment Ltd, November 2022) should be implemented in full.
2. Ensuring that a qualified arborist (or council tree officer) is appointed as a Clerk of Works during the vegetation clearance, and that they liaise with the Trust’s officer at Sydenham Hill Wood whilst this takes place; 3. Following clearance of vegetation, that the appointed contractor liaises with the Trust’s officer at Sydenham Hill Wood on at least a weekly basis until works are completed; 4. New tree planting in the Sydenham Hill Estate is designed in liaison with the Council’s Tree Officer so that their future aftercare can be secured.”
Further reading: TREE NEWS: BIDS TO SAVE OAKS IN DULWICH WOOD – November 7th 2019
COX’S WALK FOOTBRIDGE TO BE SHUT BY SOUTHWARK COUNCIL ON MONDAY January 24th 2020
COX’S WALK FOOTBRIDGE: SOUTHWARK’S LENGTHY STATEMENT – “Fresh consultations planned” February 15th 2020
Cox’s Walk: Southwark defend decision to fell oaks, but….December 2nd 2020
Council’s renewed bid to fell Cox’s Walk oaks – “Time seems right to set up a Friends of Sydenham Hill and Dulwich Woods group” say campaigners December 7th 2020
Cox’s Walk footbridge works to start in October – oak trees which faced axe will stay, say council April 10th
NEWS FROM CRYSTAL PALACE 