Scientist urges BusConnects Cork plan to improve on 'meagre tree planting scheme'

Dr Eoin Lettice also criticised the proposals for a new bridge over Ballybrack Woods

Yellow ribbons on the trees on the Boreenmanna road, one the new BusConnects Cork corridors. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

A leading plant scientist has criticised the BusConnects Cork proposals to fell 1,400 trees and described its replanting programme as “meagre” and “superficial”.

Dr Eoin Lettice, of University College Cork’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, said the National Transport Authority’s (NTA) replanting scheme is so superficial it might even be considered an afterthought.

However, he said its €600m transport plan provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a major urban greening scheme in the city, but only if the replanting scheme is ramped up significantly.

He made his comments in his submission to the NTA as part of the first round of public consultation on its draft plans for 12 strategic transport corridors (STCs) across the city.

Dr Lettice, who has a research interest in urban trees, green spaces and biodiversity, and who is a leading figure in the UCC Arboretum project, said felling urban trees should be a last resort.

“I welcome the spirit of the BusConnects plan overall and the STC proposals,” he said. “However, there is a need to vastly improve on the meagre tree planting scheme proposed.

“A truly comprehensive, well-informed tree planting programme that goes above and beyond what is already there is necessary and desirable to ensure that the provision of infrastructure for sustainable transport does not cause the unsustainable removal of urban trees and the overall degradation of the urban realm.” 

Dr Lettice flagged concerns with STC C, linking Blackpool to the city, and said 28% of all trees along the route will be removed with none being replanted.

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On STC J, from Mahon to the city, he said the plans suggest that just 60% of the total number of trees earmarked for removal will be replaced. On STC L, Sunday’s Well to Hollyhill, just 57% of all trees to be removed will be replaced, while on STC D, Hollyhill to the city, just 59% of trees planned for removal will be replaced.

He also criticised the proposals for a new bridge over Ballybrack Woods, the Mangala - a proposal the NTA has already suggested may be dropped.

NTA deputy chief executive, Hugh Creegan, has stressed that all of the proposals are draft plans, and that revisions will be made.

He said if a tree has to be cut down, it will be replaced with a mature or semi-tree, but he also said changes were made to bus corridors routes in Dublin to protect trees.

Dr Lettice said the benefits of a large, mature urban tree cannot simply be replaced by the planting of a young, or semi-mature replacement. “To be in any way sustainable and 'comprehensive', the plans should replace any trees lost with multiple trees nearby," he said.