Author: Wansteadium

Reprieve for St Mary’s Avenue trees

Redbridge Council has told Wansteadium that it is giving a temporary reprieve to the horse chestnut trees on St Mary’s Avenue which have been earmarked for the axe. Wansteadium highlighted this issue last week.

A statement from the council reads:

We understand residents are concerned about the planned felling of 11 trees in St Mary’s Avenue and due to the high level of interest we have put this work on hold. Discussions will be held with local ward members to explain the reasons for removal in more detail and a replanting proposal. However, the trees will still need to be removed to ensure the safety of local residents and road users as they are on a busy main road. This is due to internal decay identified following an inspection by one of the Council’s Arboricultural officers. If any local residents have any further concerns we would be happy to discuss this further. Please email trees@redbridge.gov.uk

Resident Pete Daly, who has started a campaign to save the trees, is going to watch matters closely, and in particular is wanting to know if the plan would be to replant with new or mature trees. Councillors are due to discuss the replanting plan this month.

What if church school shake-up came to Wanstead?

The proposals to change the way children are admitted to Church of England schools might, when heard on news bulletins, sound a bit arcane. But if carried through they could be dramatic for the character of schools and indeed the towns the schools are in.

Take Wanstead Church School. Current admissions policy has 11 categories of child, with places being awarded in order.

• Top of the list is “looked after children”, eg children in care or those who have been adopted.
• Then come cases of special social or pastoral need.
• Third in line are children whose families are at the heart of the church – firstly those who attend Christchurch or St Mary’s, and secondly those who attend St Gabriel’s Aldersbrook or Holy Trinity Hermon Hill.
• Fourth are children who aren’t classed as being “at the heart” of the church but are nevertheless “committed to it”. Then come other categories of being siblings of existing pupils, being at the heart of or being committed to other churches in Wanstead, being known to the church, and…
• Finally, category 11, “Remaining places will be offered to those living closest to the school as defined by the local authority.”

Readers might like, for the sake of diversion, to estimate the numbers of children admitted to Wanstead Church School – which has an annual intake of 30 – for the year 2010/11.

If you’ve given up guessing, here are the answers, (as recorded in Redbridge’s Primary School Admission to Reception 2011/12 document, available here):
• Looked after children – none
• Special social need – none
• Children of families at the heart of Christchurch or St Mary’s – 29
• Children of families at the heart of St Gabriel’s or Holy Trinity – 1
• Remaining categories – none, obviously.

The proposals are that 10% of places are reserved for churchgoing children would, if accepted by the church’s educational board, need to be accepted by the school governors. But if they were adopted, with just three places reserved for children of church families, it is clear to see the impact on families with young children who live in Wanstead, whether or not they go to church.

The axeman cometh to St Mary’s Avenue, Wanstead

Trouble is brewing in St Mary’s Avenue where notices have been attached to some of the distinctive horse chestnut trees announcing that 11 of them are to be chopped down.

Wansteadium reader Pete Daly is launching a campaign against the felling, and has written to Redbridge council demanding a moratorium while further consultation takes place. The notices warn, however, that the cutting could take place at any time in the next four weeks, and is due to the trees being “structurally unsound due to internal decay”.

Pete Daly plans to drum up support among fellow residents and has written the following e-mail to the council:

I would like to express my extreme concern about the proposed barbarity of cutting down 11 of the magnificent Horse Chestnut trees in St Mary’s Avenue in Wanstead. Removing this number of trees will destroy the natural beauty of this road for many generations. This must not go ahead without public consultation

I appreciate, of course, the danger to the public of falling branches or indeed trees but these trees are far from dead and in reality represent no threat to the public. Being partially hollow is a natural state for a tree and a high percentage of the trees in the UK would have to be felled if the same principal that you are applying were to be applied Nationwide

I would like to request a moratorium on this work until 3 things can take place
1. Public consultation of at least the residents of St Mary’s avenue
2. A second opinion from an independent arborologist is sought
3. Investigations into the possibility of purchasing an insurance policy that would indemnify the council from all losses arising from falling branches / trees on St Mary’s Avenue

I am sure that the residents of St Mary’s will be more than happy to meet any costs incurred in these three options to protect the beauty of their road. In the past I have been advised by the council that I cannot cut down trees in my garden as they are legally protected in some way. Surely the same legal protection must cover these magnificent specimens?

Wansteadium has contacted the council for comment and to ask what its attitude to Pete Daly’s requests would be.

Earlier this year, we reported that within Snaresbrook and Wanstead wards, 104 trees were cut down after the 2010 annual survey found theym dead, vandalised or structurally unsound. Those trees were then replaced. That work, however was due to have been completed by the end of March, so the St Mary’s Avenue felling appears to be in addition to that.

Could this be London’s shortest cycle lane?


Recently installed on Aldersbrook Road, at the junction with Harpenden Road, and photographed by ace snapper Clive Power, it is about ten feet long. The electrical box in the middle of the lane is a nice touch too. Last year there many reports about an eight-foot lane in Cardiff being the country’s shortest – which might just put this in the running for being London’s shortest…