There is continued upset in Sandown over the ‘appalling destruction’ of Los Altos Park – but the council says the works were crucial for safety reasons.
Local resident Claire Jackson has questioned County Hall’s felling multiple historic trees in the park, which provided a ‘stunning backdrop’ to the Broadway Park Hotel.
Her outcry comes after the council carried out ‘essential safety works’ at the park in Autumn 2024, involving the removal of ‘poorer specimens of the non-native Holm Oak’.
Back in March, Island Echo reported on the ‘bare and naked’ landscape that now greets visitors.
The upset surrounding the works carried out continues, with Ms Jackson stating:
“Tree trunks and tree stumps are still left where they were felled last year”.
The council previously said the work was not only ‘crucial for public safety’ but also a ‘necessary step to preserve and enhance biodiversity, allowing native tree species and wildlife to thrive’.
In September last year, County Hall’s tree officer Tony Gillingham said:
“Because of their tall slender nature, many of the park’s Holm Oaks suffer from structural defects that require regular arborist intervention.
“Trees that grow very close together in this way, without thinning or management, tend to develop poor structural form, becoming very slender and unbalanced, forming defects such as bark inclusions that are prone to failure.
“Over the last year, structural failures have increased, and trees have begun to collapse putting people at risk.
“Last winter, at least six trees failed in this way, and many more failed for other structural reasons. If we do nothing, we will steadily lose these trees as they continue to collapse.”
The IW Council has a thing about trees. They removed a lovely cherry blossom tree from Town Lane, Newport , they removed 23? trees by Hamilton & Marshall “just in case they fell down”, they removed a lovely, very old weeping willow from Church Litten Park, and the photos I have of the branches and trunk don’t look as if there is any. (the only rot is in the IWC) The replacement tree in Church Litten is desperate for water. Do the IW Council have a tree expert?
I don’t think Councils employ experts,
they are run by the Government, and we know
during the pandemic, experts were a myth!
Such a shame we need more trees in the world.
I guess the park has to blend in with rundown,wander how much we pay towards a county hall tree officer
Good. These Ilex trees swamp everything and are not native. Look at St Boniface Down if you want to see the damage they do. This used to be grassland.