Transformed tree pit in Marsden Street

• ON Sunday May 10 a tree fell in Marsden Street, Kentish Town, happily doing no harm to people or property.

The tree had been unstable for many months and the council had already expressed fears for its future.

For five years a resident of the street, John Welsh, has voluntarily tended the tree pits along the street using a mixture of plants foraged from neighbours and friends and donations.

These have become very dear to the residents of Marsden Street, some of whom have contributed to low wooden surrounds for the beds.

They also now regularly water them greatly increasing the abundance and good health of the plants let alone the neighbours and the community.

Now the council is claiming these surrounds are compromising to the trees (they sit on the surface of the ground) and a “tripping” hazard for passers-by.

They propose to remove them without further consultation despite similar roads across the borough, such as Willes, Carburton and Hawley Crescent, keeping theirs.

The irony is that John was named last year as one of its 20 people representing the best the borough has to offer for his work and interviewed for its forthcoming film and exhibition for People’s Virtual, part of Camden Alive, an initiative jointly sponsored by Camden Council.

This seems a sad outcome for a project which gives great pleasure to many, not to mention the environmental and social benefits the tree pits provide.

Five years ago our tree pits were full of litter and dog foul. Now they are full of flowers and wildlife, an attraction in themselves for people from across our part of west Kentish Town.

We urge the council to reconsider this decision.

ANNA BARKER, ALEX BOWTELL, IAN DRUMMOND, GEORGIE EDWARDS, WILL FULFORD, KATE JOSEPH, PATRICIA LANGTON, CHARLES & NICOLE MCBRIDE, JANE MAYS, ALLAN STENHOUSE
Marsden Street, NW5