Monday 4 February 2008

CULMERS LAND FIASCO -10 YEARS ON

In 1998 Trees for Thanet were asked by Broadstairs & St Peters town Council to help it plant a screening hedge in front of an un-sightly walnut pailing fence. This was done by end of Jan 1998 and as the photographs below show,a good screening wild life hedgerow was the result 10 years later. However, Broadstairs Town Council and Thanet District Council, in Dec 2007 allowed a security fence similar to that at the Securitas Depot, Tonbridge to be erected on the wrong side of screening hedgerows and off the original fence line and a landscaping catastrophe has resulted.
The photograph above shows a new security fence placed the wrong side of a hedge planted by Trees for Thanet in 1998 !
The photograph above shows how our hedge looked like in October 2007; doing a wonderful job of screening the allotment fence!
The Isle of Thanet Gazette reported on the project in 1998.

The photograph above shows why a hedgerow was needed to screen this walnut pailing fence which was the boundary of Culmers land allotments. Compare this situation to the one now created by TDC and Broadstairs TC!

What is the point of Trees for Thanet trying to improve the aesthetic and visual environment of parts of Thanet when 'vandalism' of the nature shown above can be perpetrated by, of all people, our local Councils!

1 comment:

Keyboard Angel said...

Does anybody know whether Trees for Thanet still exists? We need them now more than ever because not only is the aesthetic hedge planted by them nearly gone, the remaining few trees are being removed by tree surgeons, land where the only tiny wood we have left has been fenced in with no apparent explanation and as there is planning application to build 14 houses on what is now the car park, my guess is that these trees will eventually disappear. We used to be able to take our dogs there but are now barred from doing that. I wrote to the Town Council to ask if they knew what was going on. They replied that they would investigate the extent of Culmers Land - in other words, they were not aware that the trees had been fenced off. My main concern is for our birdlife in Broadstairs. We have precious few trees and what we did have, has slowly disappeared with over developing in our tiny town. Nobody seems to think they can do anything about this as in their words 'the council does exactly as they please'. Call me dumb but I don't believe that is true. I have met some very caring people who work for the council and I am sure that they would not deliberately harm natural habitat. I am equally sure that they know how important it is for us to maintain a balance between the needs of man and the needs of the planet upon which we depend so much. I am sure there must be an intelligent explanation for the rampant destruction of what was a beautiful place to walk, play and enjoy a sunny day.