Trees and the Public Realm - Westminster City Council

Page 18
Trees and the Public Realm (Draft)
(and those that are incongruous) will be identified. Existing street trees that are
inappropriate to their townscape context may not be replaced at the end of their life,
and in some cases consideration will be given to their removal. Consideration will
always be given to replacing any loss in the locality, but it may not be in the same
street.
30. Although most street trees have a useful life expectancy of between 40 to 60 years,
some species, for example the London Plane, may live for two centuries or more.
Exercising the option not to plant is as important as taking the decision to plant in an
historic, urban composition.
Tree planting designations
31. Based largely on this assessment of townscape areas, a Tree Planting Designation
Map has been developed to provide further guidance on appropriate planting. This
map is provided on the previous page and shows:
1. Areas where caution should be exercised in tree planting;
2. Areas where moderation should be exercised in tree planting and management;
and
3. Areas where there is opportunity for tree planting.
32. These designations generally reflect the planting constraints in these particular areas
rather than providing an indication of how many new trees each area can
accommodate. These constraints are determined by the townscape character and
disposition and type of underground services and are more prevalent in areas of
Caution. Townscape is less of a consideration in areas of Moderation or Opportunity,
meaning that there are fewer constraints here to new planting. To be clear, these
designations do not prioritise future tree planting programmes, but serve to highlight
where there are likely to be more or less opportunities and where additional sensitivity is
required.
33. Caution in this context means that there are likely to be fewer suitable locations for new
tree planting due to townscape considerations and constraints of underground
services, but that where locations are put forward they will be carefully considered on
their merits on a case by case basis. However, caution should not be seen as a
presumption against new tree planting across the designated area. Opportunities do
exist in these areas for tree planting but there are likely to be less of them and a
sensitive and coordinated approach needs to be taken where opportunities do exist.
Moderation areas already contain a fair number of trees but through self seeding or
other planting initiatives they may not always be in the best place. Thus in areas of
moderation when trees reach the ends of their lives their positions and species
selection may need to be reviewed to achieve a more coordinated approach.
34. It is acknowledged that much of the city’s tree stock is located within the Royal Parks
which are not directly managed by City Council. Nonetheless, the Royal Parks are
included within these designations as they are generally perceived as part of the public
realm and in terms of statistics fall within the council’s administrative area. Likewise,