The chair of Cardiff Civic Society has told the council to "pull its finger out" after it was revealed it had only protected 14 of the capital's trees in the last 10 years. The charity, which aims to improve the natural and built environment of the city, learned of the statistic after making a request to the council under the Freedom of Information Act.
The council confirmed that it had issued Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) on just 14 trees between January 2012 and January 2022, with the civic society claiming there had been "missed opportunities" to protect mature trees, which play an important role in improving air quality and absorbing carbon.
A number of trees across the city, including some marked as being "of note" by the Woodland Trust have been felled by developers during this period. However, the council has said that there are hundreds of TPOs already in place across Cardiff, adding that individual orders "should not be the focus" as it works on new policies to protect trees in the capital. Get the latest news from across Cardiff sent straight to your inbox for free by signing up to our newsletter.
There are currently 372 Tree Preservation Orders (TPO’s) in place in Cardiff, covering in the region of 6040 trees or groups of trees. The local authority added that focusing on the number of TPOs issued did not give "true context" to the bigger picture on how the council is protecting and increasing the number of trees in the city.
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Tree Preservation Orders (TPO) are made by local planning authorities to protect trees thought to be of significant public amenity value. When a TPO is applied to a specific tree or woodland, it becomes illegal to cut them down, prune, destroy or damage the trees unless permission has been given by the council.
Nerys Lloyd-Pierce, chair of Cardiff Civic Society, claimed the council had been "lackadaisical" in protecting trees in Cardiff. She has called for more action to be taken, having watched a number of "beautiful" trees be felled as construction work takes place across the city.
"The council has missed an opportunity here," she said. "There are many trees they could have protected that have now been felled by developers. For example, there was a beautiful copper beech and a lime tree that used to be at Suffolk House in Canton that were definitely worthy of TPOs, but instead they were hit by developers working on these projects.
"There was also a beautiful copper beech in Sophia Close which was even on the Woodland Trust’s register of notable trees that again should have had a TPO on it but fell foul of developers. When it comes to protecting mature trees in the city, the council has frankly been really lackadaisical."
The loss of mature trees - some of which are nearly 150 years old - does not only mean a loss of greenery across the city, but also a key tool in reducing air pollution and helping fight against the climate crisis. Ms Lloyd-Pierce said keeping these trees standing was a "no-brainer", with an acre full of mature trees providing enough oxygen for 18 people for one year.
"We've got three things going on, really," she said. "We've got the climate crisis, nature crisis, and air pollution. Mature trees are excellent for biodiversity, and the canopy is immense, so it provides shade, preventing heat islands from developing as we get warmer summers. Of course, they also improve air quality, providing clean air and sequestering carbon, so it’s a no brainer to keep these trees in Cardiff. The bigger they are, the better.
"You can’t just chop down a tree as developers do and ‘replace it’ because it will take generations to grow. We haven’t got generations, we have multiple emergencies facing us right now."
Ms Lloyd-Pierce added: "The council needs to have a really good look at the trees that are out there and start protecting them. There’s one I’m trying to get protected which I can see out of my office window. It’s another big beautiful copper beech, but there’s some spurious reason why they haven’t put a TPO on it.
"The reality is probably a lack of manpower and also a lack of will from the powers that be. They really have to pull their finger out now and start protecting these trees, because they are so important to us all."
A council spokesperson said: “Tree Preservation Orders are reserved for trees of significant public amenity value only, and where such trees are under imminent threat, with 14 of these orders having been made in the last 10 years.
"Although it is easy for Cardiff Civic Society to focus on specific statistics, unfortunately it doesn’t give the true context to the bigger picture on how the council is protecting and increasing the number of trees in the city. There are 372 Tree Preservation Orders (TPO’s) in place in Cardiff, covering in the region of 6040 trees or groups of trees.
"This includes 449 ‘area’ TPOs and 168 ‘woodland’ TPOs which include huge areas of land, with trees of all types and ages. In effect the TPO’s in place protect millions of trees in the city.
They added: "These individual TPO’s should not be the focus though, as we continue to work on new policy and strategy to protect and increase the number of trees in Cardiff. This can be seen in the ‘Householder’s Guide to Trees’, the ‘Green Infrastructure Supplementary Guidance’, ‘Coed Caerdydd’ and the emerging ‘Soil Strategy’. These policies will do far more to increase and improve the amount and quality of trees in Cardiff, than individual TPOs.
“In fact, it is important to note that the most important trees in the city already have protection, as they are within a conservation area, in a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) or in a local nature reserve. In addition, the huge population of trees in Cardiff’s parks are also well managed by our parks department.”
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