The trees of St George's Churchyard are safe!

Leicester City Council's planning committee considered the application to cut down 21 mature trees in St George's Churchyard again tonight. They first considered the proposal back in January but postponed making a decision until a site visit could take place. 

Three people spoke against the proposal. The first was Melanie Wakley, speaking on behalf of Leicester Friends of the Earth. She pointed out that the bat survey had been conducted in November, when bats are known to be hibernating, so it was not sufficient. She also asked the planning committee to consider the impact on bees and other pollinating insects if 21 mature trees were removed from the city centre and she quoted a local beekeeper, who highlighted the wildlife value of mature lime trees. The next speaker was Steve Matijas, from the Serbian Orthodox church that owns the land. He stated that the council has a licence to maintain the grounds but this doesn't include removing trees. The church only want the trees nearest the church to be pruned back. The third speaker was Olga Suhomlinova, a resident of the flats overlooking the churchyard. She asked that the churchyard be retained as a quiet green space, rather than allowing local bars to use it for outdoor seating, which would create a lot of noise for local residents. 

Patrick Kitterick, the local councillor, then spoke against the proposal. He reminded the committee that trees take a long time to grow and it would take a generation to replace them. He also summarised the arguments of the other speakers and pointed out that the church, the local residents and the environmental movement all opposed this plan.

The planning committee discussed the application for a few minutes, raising their own concerns about the impact on biodiversity and air pollution if the trees were removed. The chair then recommended that they reject the application and the rest of the committee voted with him. 

So the trees of St George's Churchyard are safe!! We are very glad that the council have decided to reject the planning application. This is wonderful news to end the year.  

The Leicester Mercury reported this story in detail. 

‘Last chance’ to save St George’s trees

St George’s churchyard in autumn 

The City Council have announced that they will be re-considering the application to cut down 21 trees in St George’s churchyard, opposite Curve, at the next planning committee meeting on 12^th December. Campaigners have immediately expressed their dismay and are planning a ‘last chance’ Tree Festival in Orton Square on Sunday 9^th December, from 12 noon to 2 pm, to show the Council how much people care about the trees.

Anne Scott and Kelly Swann performing The Lorax

The Tree Festival will begin with a performance of The Lorax, the Dr Seuss story about a forest that is lost to economic greed. Two local teachers, Anne Scott and Kelly Swann first performed the story for the Everybody’s Reading Festival in September and have agreed to repeat it in Orton Square on Sunday as part of the campaign to protect the trees. The story is loved by children and adults alike. Leicester Friends of the Earth and CivicLeicester, who are organising the Tree Festival, hope that it will encourage more people to oppose the planning application.

The proposal for the churchyard was first considered in January but the planning committee deferred making a decision until a site visit could take place. At that meeting, some councillors expressed concerns about the removal of so many trees, especially those that are covered by protection orders. They decided that they needed more information about the state of the churchyard. Campaigners expected that a decision would be made one month later, as normally happens when a site visit is required. It is not clear why the Council have waited 11 months.

Hannah Wakley from Leicester Friends of the Earth said:

“We are disappointed that the Council's idea of Christmas cheer and solidarity with the environmentalists currently meeting in Poland on climate change, is to reinstate their plan to cut down 21 trees in St George's churchyard. The trees have done their job of soaking up carbon emissions for the past 11 months but seemingly no-one on the Council has used this lengthy time to consider any viable alternatives to their original ideas. But as the Lorax says, ‘Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.’ We will speak for the trees of St George’s churchyard and we hope the Council will listen. These much-loved trees should not be cut down just to please the local business owners.”

Ambrose Musiyiwa from CivicLeicester said:

“Trees are an important part of our city’s heritage. The cluster of trees in St George's Churchyard is particularly unique and important because of the work it does to combat air pollution in the city. The cluster needs to be preserved. Cutting down 21 of the trees, as the city council want to do, will be an act of vandalism that will have a negative effect on the health of the city.

"I hope people will continue opposing these plans.

"I hope they will continue writing to the planning committee and I hope they will come to the Tree Festival on 9 December and to the City Council's planning committee meeting on 12 December to oppose the plan."

Leicester sends a message to the climate talks

On Sunday 2nd December 2018, people concerned about climate change met in in Jubilee Square to form the number 12, to remind politicians that we have just 12 years left to take radical action on fossil fuels if we want to avoid climate catastrophes. An aerial photograph was taken from the Big Wheel and has been sent to negotiators going to the UN climate talks in Poland, as a message from Leicester calling for urgent action.

Red Leicester Choir attended the protest and sang songs with an environmental theme. They also led a mass sing of an adapted version of ‘Silent Night’, which calls for fracking to be banned. This song was streamed live on Leicester Friends of the Earth’s Facebook page.

One member of Red Leicester Choir, Christina Mottram, is travelling to Poland to attend the UN climate talks as a campaigner. She wants the negotiators to understand that people are very worried about the effects of climate change and they are asking governments to follow through on the commitments they made in Paris three years ago. In 2015, nearly every country in the world signed up to the Paris climate agreement, with the long-term goal of keeping temperature increases to 1.5 degrees. However, so far, countries’ commitments to reduce fossil fuel use have not been enough to meet this goal.

Christina said: “My children are now in their 30s, and ever since they were young I have wanted a better world for them to live in. It also makes you realise that some children are disadvantaged by the effects of climate change - especially poverty, migration, and the effects of global warming on local environments.”

Hannah Wakley from Leicester Friends of the Earth said:

“Over 100 people came to Jubilee Square today to send a message to talks in Poland. We know that we are running out of time to deal with this problem. If global temperatures increase by more than 1.5 degrees, millions of people will be affected by floods, drought, extreme heatwaves and poverty. It is still possible to avoid these catastrophes but governments must act now.”

Photo credit: Ambrose Musiyiwa

The Guardian covered the latest UN climate change report.
COP24’s website explains the aims of the conference.