Locals have demanded action to finally remove a fallen tree that has been lying in a park for more than six months.
The large tree collapsed in Gosforth Central Park during high winds at the end of January, as Storm Malik caused chaos across the region. Councillors fear that the tree, which is in the park’s picnic area and does not appear to be dead despite having been on its side for so long, is posing a danger to children climbing on it and have urged bosses at Urban Green Newcastle to finally tackle the situation instead of “dragging their heels”.
Liberal Democrat Tom Woodwark said that local residents, including a park volunteer group, are fed up. He added: “With the time it has taken them [Urban Green] so far, I’m wondering if we should buy the Christmas decorations for it now?
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“It is proving very difficult to get Urban Green to respond to issues. However, the park users have had enough. How much longer do we have to wait?”
Urban Green, a charity which was handed control of Newcastle’s parks by the city council in 2019, confirmed that rangers would now assess the tree next Monday and then decide whether it can be taken away. A spokesperson said that staff had been dealing with widespread damage caused by last winter's massive storms across the city’s 33 parks.
They added: “Our first priority was to focus on the immediate health and safety risks across all 33 parks to ensure visitors remained safe. This initial phase of work was completed very quickly and the charity invested more than £40,000 to ensure areas that posed a risk to members of the public could be addressed immediately.
"We have since moved on to phase two, which is a more general clean up operation. A huge amount of work has already taken place, including at Exhibition Park, Iris Brickfield, and The Spinney. Responding to the fallen tree in Gosforth Central Park has always been part of this phase of works which has taken many months given the scale of damage.
"Our rangers will be in Gosforth Central Park on Monday, August 22 to begin work on the fallen tree and following this initial phase of activity we will be in a better position to know if the tree can be fully removed, or if it must remain in situ. We will of course keep people informed via our website and social media feeds.
“Whilst we understand it’s not common place to see a fallen mature tree in one of Newcastle’s parks, many people have commented how fascinating it is to see the tree continue to bloom despite being largely uprooted by the storms. A scheduled update will go out this week as planned to keep local councillors and the Friends of Gosforth Central Park informed about the works to the tree. We always welcome feedback from park users and would encourage anyone to get in touch via our website, urbangreennewcastle.org.”
Urban Green also came under fire last week from park-goers in Gosforth over plans to remove a popular coffee vendor, before a U-turn that allowed Jonny Graham to keep his pitch for another year.
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