Bohemia Village Voice

Combermere Road - where residents have felled their own trees.

Retrospective planning permission is being sought for work carried out on various trees at 14-28 Combermere Road. The permission would apply to six felled ash trees, one felled Norway maple, and a lime whose branches have been pruned. According to Carol Boydell of Hastings Council’s planning department, ‘This application arose out of a misunderstanding between the contractor who carried out the work of felling these trees and the residents of the houses at 14-28 Combermere Road, who commissioned the work to be done. Each thought the other had applied for permission, but there doesn’t seem to have been any attempt at deliberate deception, as the residents contacted the Council’s own arboriculturalist, Chris Wilken, at an early stage.’
The trees in question were inside the boundaries of the clutch of properties concerned, and a further stand of trees already provides shade and greenery just inside the boundary hedge. ‘Even though the trees were subject to a Tree Preservation Order,’ says Carol, ‘Chris didn’t see a problem with cutting them down except in the case of the Norway maple. The loss of that tree has left a bit of a gap. But the residents have agreed to plant a cherry in its place, and that should grow to a decent size in a few years, so any change to the street landscape should be short-term.’
Sheila Smith-Weller at 28 Combermere Road confirmed that the trees had been cut down as long ago as last year. ‘It was in late summer, before the leaves came down. They were massive trees. Our ash towered over the house and cut out a lot of light. It’s a lot brighter and sunnier indoors now. As I remember it, we were told to cut them down because they’d got so big they were dangerous.’