Thousands of city's trees damaged in worst storms for 'over a decade'

The damage caused by winter storms across Liverpool was the worst the city faced for more than a decade.

Following storms from Arwen to Franklin that ripped through communities from November 2021 to February this year, the impact on the city’s environment has been revealed. Local authority documents have shown that 1,101 trees were damaged during the time that bad weather took hold.

This is a marked increase on preparations made by Liverpool Council which usually anticipates 10 to 15 trees being impacted during storm periods. A report to the council’s neighbourhoods committee, heard this evening, detailed how Storm Arwen in November proved to be “the worst for over a decade” and brought down or damaged 871 trees in the week it passed through Liverpool.

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It was said that this was due to north westerly gusts brought in by Arwen that reached 90mph, going against the usual growth patterns for trees in the UK. It is expected that the impact of the winter storms will linger until the start of this summer with work continuing on damaged trees and in his report to members, cabinet member Abdul Qadir said it was “impossible” to give an accurate estimation on an end date for work.

Cllr Qadir said this was as “as one job could take 45 mins and another could be days.” He told the meeting that the council has had to “change our services to react to the storms.”

In total, 650 trees were lost during the three month storm period, while throughout 2021, more than 6,300 tree related enquiries were handled by the council, ranging from regular, parks and highways inspections. In a bid to restore greenery to the city streetscene, Liverpool Council is planting 1,200 new trees over the next three years, alongside the partnership work done with Mersey Forest as part of the Northern Forest established in 2018.

The report brought by Cllr Qadir said that “in general we plant more trees in our land than we remove each year.” Councillors moved to note the cabinet member’s report.