Merchiston Districts Community Council’s “Tree Project”
“The long-term management of trees ….is of paramount importance” *
Why should we care about trees? There are many compelling answers. We live in times of twin biodiversity and climate crises. In urban areas, trees capture carbon, clean the air, reduce flooding, improve human health and well-being, improve the local economy and support biodiversity. They also provide thermal comfort as temperatures rise with climate change. Many of them are also strikingly beautiful.
So what has been happening to trees in our neighbourhood? Has the number, cover and composition of trees been changing over time? How future-proof is the system for regulating work done on trees?
We ─ a team of Merchiston Districts Community Council members ─ are keen to explore these questions with the help of researchers and practitioners. This is the first of a series of blog posts to discuss tree management in people’s gardens.
Key to this endeavour is William Ellis – who as part of this blog series will be sharing findings from his MSc dissertation. This investigates tree regulation and its use through analysis of related records and interviews with residents, practitioners, and council representatives. As far as we know, this is the first time, anywhere in Scotland, that such a study has been undertaken to review changes in tree volume within a conservation area.
We do not expect to find definite answers to our questions, but hope to learn a lot about trees in our neighbourhood along the way.
The future of urban trees: the City Council’s ambitions
The City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) recognises the high value of trees and wants to become a “million tree city”. It says –
“We’ve an ambitious target to become a million-tree city by 2030. We need everyone to play a part in planting around 250,000 trees we need to reach the target.”
The CEC’s action plan includes a commitment to –
“[work] with residents to raise awareness of what trees to plant and where”
Efforts towards this end have already started in many public areas such as parks, existing woodlands. For example, many will have noticed the tree planting in Brunstfield Links organised by Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links.
However, an aerial view of Edinburgh and the area within the boundaries of the Merchiston Districts Community Council shows that much of the urban woodland is found in people’s gardens, often neglected in public discourse on management of the ‘urban forest’. This is why it’s particularly important to learn more about changes to trees in people’s gardens.
Trees in a conservation area: Merchiston and Greenhill
Much of the area served by the Merchiston Districts Community Council is part of the Merchiston and Greenhill Conservation Area. In the Conservation Area’s character appraisal, CEC says-
“trees within gardens play a significant role in creating the character of the conservation area”
The appraisal also highlights the opportunities “for introducing further trees”, and makes clear that “the long-term management of trees in [the conservation area] is of paramount importance”.
Importantly, there is statutory framework – the Town & Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended – for the regulation of work on privately owned trees in designated conservation areas in Scotland. This means that, if owners within the conservation area wish to undertake tree work on their land, they must notify the City Council.
Follow the story: our upcoming posts
In the second blog post, we will describe and explain the approach taken by CEC towards tree work in Conservation Areas such as Merchiston and Greenhill. We will present work by William Ellis: an analysis of data from notifications submitted by residents in the Merchiston and Greenhill Conservation Area.
In the third blog post, William will write about conversations with residents, council officers, and professional tree surgeons and draws out some major themes. A final post will offer practical guidance and recommendations to owners who are considering tree works on their land, with particular emphasis on replacing trees which have been taken down due to age or disease.
We would love feedback on these posts! Please share your views by writing to merchistoneandi@gmail.com
*City of Edinburgh Council (CEC): Conservation Area Character Appraisal, Merchiston and Greenhill https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/23385/merchiston-greenhill-conservation-area-character-appraisal
