Save the Heart of Kendal slams Aynam Road tree felling

Save The Heart of Kendal, a group that opposed the Environment Agency's £76 million Flood Risk Management Scheme, has dubbed the recent felling of trees on Aynam Road as the latest "environmental crime" committed by the EA during the flood works.

"The river is an ecosystem is finished", said Dr Karen Lloyd, environmental researcher at Lancaster University.

"You cannot have migratory fish coming up the river with no shade. 

"If the trees are gone, then the insects are gone - this is a feeding corridor for migratory birds, that's all gone, so we're in a biodiversity crisis, which we depend on for our existence.

READ MORE: Campaigners call for rethink of 'false hope' Kendal flood scheme with start of project imminent

An EA spokesman said: "We understand there are sensitivities around the tree removal which will need to take place in areas throughout Kendal, particularly through the central areas of Kendal.

'The river as an ecosystem is dead', said Dr Karen Lloyd

"A number of trees have and will be removed as a consequence of the FRMS, but where we can through refining our scheme design, we aim to save as many trees as possible. 

"We have been able to reduce the number of trees we originally identified for removal from 779 to circa 500. 

"We are committed to continue to further reduce this number where we can.

"We will be planting over 4000 new trees as part of our landscape design, taking a right tree, right place approach, and enhancing habitat for wildlife.

"We are taking a sensitive approach to all tree removal using a number of techniques to minimise the impact on wildlife and the local environment.

Cheryl Berry, from STHOK, said that the 'new trees' will be planted mainly in the Jubilee Field area, not Aynam Road or other affected areas.

"I always thought that the true impact would sink in for a lot of people when the trees on Aynam Road come down.

"People are saying it makes the street brighter and more open, but people are absolutely devastated. 

"They know it'll probably make flooding worse, the water has always come up through the cellars.

"Last year they were borehole-drilling at Aynam Road next to schedule 1 protected birds, and denied that the birds were in the nest, but we'd filmed them. 
"They just said their ecologists had surveyed them and there were no birds in the nest - there were species like Sand Martins, which are on the endangered list."

An EA spokesman said: "We take a sensitive approach to all tree removal using a number of techniques to minimise the impact on wildlife and the local environment.

"The recent felling of trees on Aynam Road took place after nesting season and with guidance from the independent ecology expert onsite.

The river banks are largely bare

"We have installed at least 64 new bird and bat boxes throughout Kendal to ensure that there is sufficient alternative habitat in place for the bird and bat population. 

"The boxes were in place ahead of any felling."

Miss Berry continued:

"We then asked if they were going to fell the trees during nesting season, they said of course not, and here we are today, it's happened.

"We want the EA to be more transparent with the public - it's not even widely known that this scheme was never designed to protect us from another Storm Desmond, an admission of this is listed in the council minutes, but it was just felt that something had to be done."

An EA spokesman said on this: "We are adapting to our changing climate and taking a staged approach using the latest information. 

"Raising defences to reduce risk to the most vulnerable people in Kendal, following on with work on upstream storage to further improve protection of properties in Kendal. 

"And we need to continue to work to adapt further as our climate continues to change."