Edinburgh resident says tree cutting in south of the city is ‘a tragedy’
An Edinburgh resident has described the partial removal of trees in the south of the city as ‘a tragedy’.
The resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, said they were shocked to see trees along Alnwickhill Road being trimmed on Tuesday, telling the Evening News that some of the trees are ‘hundreds of years old’.
It is understood the works are taking place along Alnwickhill Road between its junction with Liberton Gardens and the Army Reserve Centre. The trees are not owned by the council and are being carried out on a private development located at the former waterworks.
Council documents show tree trimming works are expected to last from Tuesday, July 15, until Thursday, July 17. But the resident said tree care workers advised the work will take several days and the resident now fears the trees are being felled.
The local resident said: “These trees are very old and they've not caused anybody any trouble and now it looks like quite a lot being taken down, which is quite tragic really. Even during the storm in January, there was no damage, nobody's house was affected.
“This street is well known for these beautiful trees, they’re Douglas Fir trees and they're stunning. So it does seem quite sad considering these trees have been up for 50 to 100 years.
“At the moment teams are working on the smaller trees at the far end of the road but there's very old trees further up the road and a worker told me they're going to make their way along the road.
“I don't know what the reasons behind it are. I do know that a survey was carried out 18 months but I don't know what the result of that was.
The resident said trees in the area were checked several months ago when a development was being built in the area adding that ‘all the problematic trees were removed’.
They said: “I think they were just beyond their lifespan or something - but this is something else completely.
“Other residents have told me that when they were building other homes in the past, trees were left in place by developers because locals had petitioned to keep them because they are so overwhelmingly beautiful.
“I don’t know if this may or may not be necessary, but certainly it is the first I’ve heard of it and I don’t think many other people know either. But now I'm very concerned that a lot of these trees are going to go.”
Enquiries are ongoing to make contact with the contractor.