Environmental group working to save 45 trees set for removal from Clonmel

Nearly €1m has been spent on a new urban design in the town, part of which will see 45 semi-mature trees removed

As part of the town's new urban design plans, trees currently standing in O’Connell Street and Gladstone Street in Clonmel are set to be removed, with new trees taking their place. File picture Dan Linehan

After a week of tree-related controversy in Cork, environmentalists in Tipperary say they will not give up on their quest to save 45 semi-mature trees scheduled for removal from one of the county's major towns.

As part of the town's new urban design plans, trees currently standing in O’Connell Street and Gladstone Street in Clonmel are set to be removed, with new trees taking their place.

Nearly €1m has been spent on the urban design process, which went out to public consultation. 

Despite a range of submissions expressing concern about the removal of the trees in question, Clonmel Borough District councillors were recently told by council officials that the plans will go ahead.

SuirCan Environmental CLG, a community group for the River Suir, its valley, and Clonmel town, has vigorously opposed plans for the removal of the trees, and has implored council officials to rethink the idea.

The group's chair, Alan Moore, told the Irish Examiner that in light of the stark findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report this week, the preservation of nature was ever more paramount.

"We contend that the decision by Tipperary County Council to endorse a town centre design which will see 45 semi-mature 40-year-old trees removed from Clonmel town centre is completely out of step with current thinking about the value of existing trees in terms of climate, flood, biodiversity, shade and aesthetic considerations," he said. 

The most recent IPCC report could not be more shocking and underlines the need to value and protect our green infrastructure as a guiding principle in all future planning decisions."

SuirCan has asked for an independent evaluation of the trees in question.

"We have a very simple request for our county council, so far denied, which is that the issue of the tree removal be re-evaluated by an arborist with a view to assessing the health and viability of the existing trees within the context of the new town plan and to report on whether they can be saved," Mr Moore said.

According to Tipperary County Council, the new urban design is to "transform Clonmel town centre to a space that is purposeful for 21st century" as a place that meets the changing needs of residents and visitors, facilitates business growth, and a place for activities that encourages footfall.

'Retrograde and unimaginative'

SuirCan contends the urban design project "lacked vision and was retrograde and unimaginative".

"For example, there was no scope within the plan to pedestrianise the town centre in the future despite our requests to future proof the design to allow for this. 

"But of great concern to our group was the decision to remove 45 semi-mature trees (rowan and acer/London plane) from the town centre and replace them with ornamental smaller species, bird cherry and ornamental pear. This has not changed despite our requests," the group said.

Tipperary County Council agreed there were objections about the removal of the existing trees.

However, the planting of 43 new semi-mature trees will be "appropriate to their urban environment, located correctly in cognisance of their surrounds, planted correctly so that they may flourish, and of a species that shall be suitable for maintenance requirements", Clonmel Borough District executive engineer Roger Noonan said in reply to SuirCan correspondence.