WE DID IT! 🌳 30 New Trees coming to Crouch End Town Centre 🌳

Last month Crouch End Lib Dem Councillor, Luke Cawley-Harrison, announced an ambitious project he was was launching, co-sponsored by the Crouch End Neighbourhood Forum; Crouch End Festival; and Crouch End Traders Association, to green Crouch End Town Centre with 25 brand new trees, with the help of local residents such as yourself. The project was crowdfunding for 25 brand new street trees for our town centre through the Haringey Council and Trees for Streets partnership tree planting scheme.

And we are delighted to say that not only has Luke and the team achieved their 25 tree target, but they have surpassed it, raising enough funds for 30 NEW Street Trees for the town centre!

A HUGE thank you to everyone that supported the campaign, whether you donated or simply spread the word about it - it is only down to the Crouch End community that we have managed to achieve, and surpass, our goal.

Luke, the community groups involved, and all local residents want to see a cleaner, greener, nicer and more flourishing Crouch End, and its small things like this - community action - that can't start to make a real difference.

Cllr Luke Cawley-Harrison has provided the following details on what happens now:
 

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:

Haringey's highways officers are currently surveying the town centre to confirm all the locations new trees could be planted in. Each location will be checked for potential issues such as underground cables, overhead awnings, accessibility such as pavement widths and nearby doors, nearby infrastructure such as road signs, lights and lots more.

Once we have these locations, we will work with Haringey's highways officers and and Trees officers to identify the most suitable locations for our 30 new trees, as well as which trees are suitable for planting in each location (some locations may only allow for more vertical trees, whereas some could afford a wider canopy spread; some location soil types and therefore drainage may be different etc).

As the intention of this project is to plant trees in our town centre, the majority of the locations are likely to be adjacent to businesses (the sites are generally located between two premises rather than directly in front of one), and therefore any selected locations will then have a notice letter sent to the adjacent businesses asking for their feedback and that they are happy with the proposed location and tree or would not like the tree outside.

Once this is all confirmed, Haringey's contractors will proceed to planting. Haringey have indicated to us that all 30 trees should be able to be planted within this coming planting season (Nov-March), and so we should see the new trees relatively soon!
 

WHY CAN I NO LONGER DONATE? COULDN'T WE FUND EVEN MORE TREES?

Haringey Council have confirmed that they only have so much planting capacity within each season, and therefore 30 trees was the maximum that they could physically manage to plant this year without impacting tree planting in other parts of the borough.

We did explore with them whether we could continue our fundraiser, with a view to planting any trees we fund beyond the 30 next year instead, however the full cost of a street tree is approx. £900 with Haringey Council match-funding around 65% of the total cost to cover stakes, excavations, ties, surveying etc, and our contribution being £310 per tree. The council has yet to set their budget for next year, and until they do, they are unable to confirm this same level of match-funding per tree. They therefore didn't want us to continue raising funds for next year on the assumption of £310 per tree, and then for this to change to a much higher value.

We will therefore explore potentially reopening the crowdfunder next year once Haringey's budget is confirmed. This will also allow us to see the 30 new trees in situ and where any potentially fundraising would best be focused.
 

CAN I SUGGEST TREE SPECIES AND WHERE THEY MAY BEST BE PLANTED?

Absolutely! Haringey is very happy to take suggestions on which species to plant and locations. We cannot guarantee that any recommendations can be taken forward, as only species suitable for the highway will be chosen (for example ones with roots that won't disturb footways/highways as the London Plane trees of old have done), and some locations may only allow for certain species, but if you would like to make a suggestion just reply to this email with details and I shall be sure to put this to the council.
 

WHO WILL LOOK AFTER THE TREES ONCE PLANTED?

Haringey Council will be watering and maintaining these trees for the first 3 years while they get established. This has been factored into the cost of each tree for this campaign. After the trees are established then the trees will then be maintained alongside all the other street trees in the borough as part of Haringey's annual tree maintenance programme.

I am aware that some residents have raised concerns about some trees planted in Haringey over the last few years struggling or even dying. I have raised this with the councils tree officers who have confirmed that the rate of failing trees is incredibly low, and should any tree fail as part of the project then it would be replaced. They have also confirmed that none of the 25 trees in Muswell Hill planted last year under a similar scheme have failed to date.

Once again, can I just say a huge thank you to everyone who donated or supported the campaign in any form. We had volunteers delivering letters, putting up flyers in shops and spreading the word with family, friends and neighbours and its paid dividends!