East Marylebone & Fitzrovia Street Trees – Here’s your chance to be heard
I am writing to you on behalf of the W1W Tree Planting Initiative whose goal has been to plant street trees along the streets of north East Marylebone. Many living and working in the area have wondered why so few trees line our streets. They also believe it is time to improve our streets with trees and permanent ‘greening’ of the neighbourhood. Our current focus is on planting trees on Weymouth Street, Great Portland Street and Bolsover Street.
A real opportunity to speed up this greening process has just presented itself. Westminster City Council has now opened a consultation procedure on its planting policy and issued a document titled Trees and the Public Realm (Draft). I would like to draw your attention to the document’s Appendix B: Townscape Area and Planting Principles. The current draft of the policy advises caution for Marylebone stating that
- Avenues of new planting are not appropriate for the existing historic streets in this Townscape Area;
- The predominantly narrow streets, detailing of the architecture and distinct sense of place should be respected, and its streets, generally, left unobscured by trees;
- The limited amount of planting concentrated in the north of Harley Street Conservation Area should not be extended throughout the rest of this conservation area
Source: Westminster City Council, Trees and the Public Realm (Draft): Appendix B Townscape Area and Planting Principles, Section 16, Pages 31-32, East Marylebone
I would be grateful if those that live and work in (East) Marylebone would express a clear preference for more trees on our streets to either the Marylebone Association, our local ward Councillors or Mr Chris Mason (Westminster City Council Policy Manager – details below) perhaps also indicating where new tree lines would be best placed to meet the community’s environmental concerns.
Many thanks in advance for engaging in this process,
Mark Gazaleh
Notes:
More information on the activities and progress of the W1W Tree Planting Initiative is available on its http://w1w-trees.spaces.live.com web site. The Initiative is the product of a successful partnership between the local community, Westminster Tree Trust and Westminster City Council.
A copy of the current draft of Westminster’s Townscape Area and Planting Principles Document is available for your review on http://www.westminster.gov.uk/westminsterway or at this alternate web folder address. Please see Section 16 of the document for policy guidance for East Marylebone.
Comments should be addressed either via the web site page http://www.westminster.gov.uk/westminsterway or in writing to Chris Mason, Policy Manager (City Schemes), 11th Floor East, Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QP by 28 February 2010.