Council officers have reported that a number of trees around the town are in such poor states of health that they require felling. Sadly the list includes the old horse chestnut tree in the Triangle which has been a landmark in Tilehurst for the last hundred years. Other trees to be felled in Tilehurst include one in Teviot Road growing too close to a house and one thorn tree outside 82 Elvaston Way.

It is always sad to see trees felled and it always takes a long time for replacement trees to grow. I have asked the Parks and Open Spaces Department  about plans to replace the felled trees and also the trees felled some time ago such as the one in front of the bungalows at the bottom of Corwen Road.

Thankfully, the council now has a Tree Strategy (thanks to a Lib Dem initiative over the last year) and soon it will have a full inventory of the trees in the Borough and budgeted plans for planting more, not just to replaced felled ones but to add to the number of trees, especially in those areas that have very few at present.

Trees in Reading and other towns and cities bring huge benefits to local people apart from making the place look more attractive. They help reduce air pollution, they provide shade in our parks, they reduce stormwater runoff and they also provide an improved habitat for much of our urban wildlife. We need to look after the trees we do have and replace the ones that we inevitably lose over time. Better still, we need to plant more trees where we can.