Tag: Playing Fields

The trees at Stoke Lodge Park and Playing Fields – a letter to the Council

5th February 2020

Dear Bristol City Council Parks Department,

As you are aware, we have been expressing our continuing concerns about the welfare of the trees growing at Stoke Lodge Park and Playing Fields for the best part of a year now.

At the moment, our particular concerns are threefold:

  1. The potential for damage to trees caused by pedestrians being obliged to pass over their root zones and under their canopies since Cotham School erected its boundary fence last year.
  2. The potential for damage being caused to the trees growing within the new fence being caused by the school’s grass mowing regime.
  3. The potential for damage to trees caused by vehicles passing over their root zones and under their canopies.

To a large extend, our concerns about issue three may have been allayed by the school’s adoption of a new access point at the eastern end of the fields, but we will have to see how this develops.

The new vehicle access point at the eastern end.

As for the other two issues, we attach images showing how the very muddy and disturbed path running around the outside of the school’s fence is causing disruption to the root zones of a number of trees – these are not all the trees being affected by this.

The eastern end of the fields.
The path leading to the Pavilion on the northern boundary.
created by dji camera
The path leading to the Pavilion.

These images show how the current mowing regime encroaches within the root zone of one of the Turkey oaks inside the fence.

The Turkey growing at the eastern end of the playing fields seen from above.
The Turkey growing at the eastern end of the playing fields – the mowing line is clearly visible.

Here is a video which shows the mowing issue more clearly.

In our view, something needs to be done about this before any damage being caused becomes irreversible.

Can you advise me what action the Council plans to take to protect these trees, please?

Best Regards,

The Bristol Tree Forum

%d bloggers like this: