Tree works go ahead in St George's Road

Work to reduce the height of trees in St George's Road Swanley went ahead today as promised (see post of 24 February). The work, paid for from my Member Highway Fund, is reducing the tree height by a third.

There was some anxiety and uncertainty about the works this morning since the note from Kent Highways to residents spoke of reducing the trees to a "manageable hedge". As a resident pointed out to me, this sounded more drastic than a one-third reduction. The option of a bigger reduction - of a half - to more of a hedge size was considered last summer but turned down when it became clear that this was bigger than most residents wanted. 

However, following some calls to Kent Highways and popping up to the site (see picture) to talk to the contractors, I confirmed that the reduction being carried out today was, as agreed, one third. Encouragingly, Kent Highways believe that they can sustain this through a scheme of management - hence the reference in the letter to residents.