The much-loved and historic Umbrella Tree in East Cowes has been fenced off by the Isle of Wight Council, citing safety concerns.
As previously reported by Island Echo, the tree – which was planted during the reign of Queen Victoria – has been the subject of a long-running campaign to save it.
Now, the Isle of Wight Council has fenced off the popular tree leading to it being described by local Councillor Karl Love on social media as ‘incredibly unsightly’.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said:
“We have continued to carry out regular inspections of the umbrella tree in East Cowes which was identified as suffering from internal decay and heavily kinked crown limb formations. The maintenance of the tree is currently the responsibility of the Friends of the Umbrella Tree.”
“Sadly, its condition has continued to decline and has weakened to the point where we must take action to ensure the safety of the public. Today (Friday 7th July), we will be erecting temporary fencing for everyone’s safety. We hope people will understand that the safety of the public is our first priority.”
“We would like to stress that these measures are only intended to be short-term to enable a supporting frame, to support the tree’s quite substantial branches, to be completed. The council hopes to take down the fencing when the detailed design for the support has been approved and the structure is complete.”
“In the meantime, we will work closely with the Friends of the Umbrella Tree, East Cowes Town Council and the local member to continue to maintain public safety. We know today’s news may disappoint some people, but it is important that we act now before the situation worsens.”
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Another one should be grown on ready to replace the original one when the time comes.
Would be a good idea if society hadn’t paid charity funded tax credit beings to breed. For now any small replacement tree would be snapped off ‘for a laff’
No chance of that happening forward planning is alien to the councils way of thinking
in other words – the council are going to make the whole area as unsightly as possible, over exaggerate the state of the tree because they want to cut it down – after all, who would want a tree there, which removes CO2 from the atmosphere and puts back in oxygen that we need to breathe.
Same as outside County hall with fencing around to make it look rubbish (like IOW council is). I’ve got chain saw and trailer and could cut county hall trees down in less than a day for few hundred pounds,but no council have had temp fencing (on hire by day ) for almost a year and have to pay thousands to consultants,few hundred emails, time at council meetings and will probably total cost to cut down and replace be in tens of thousands of tax payers money. Everything councils do is always so much more than members of public pay ,eg mobile phones, contract’s , Broadband even down to toilet rolls and paper for printers etc. Why?. Umbrella tree is clearly not dead yet by the amount of foliage.
Then how would they justify giving thousands to their friends?
The tree is rotten so chop it down and get something else planted. Looks a proper mess.
This tree is dangerous i have been passed it recently and i was hit on the head by a leaf.
Claim already sent.
Kindly remove your tongue from your cheek Sir
For goodness sake look at it – it is a wonderful tree healthy and with vibrant foliage this is just another nasty tactic by a council who wish to get rid of it.
We must be the only country that disregards the wonder of nature to the extent that we make every space as ugly as possible and claim health and safety as the justification to ruin any wonderful natural space.
Read the article! The tree is rotten and at the end of its life. Time to replace it with a new tree. No big deal.