Over 1,000 people sign petition in opposition to removal of Clonmel trees

People in county Tipperary could be forgiven for being cynical about reassurances that trees need to be cut down.
We’ve had the Oakville Chainsaw Massacre of so-called “diseased and dangerous” trees at Dunnes Stores, (January 2019) that were neither diseased nor dangerous. Felled but not forgotten.
More recently came The Kilsheelan Clear-Fell (December 2020) , God knows what was behind that, but the end result looks like the Somme battlefield. Four acres of broadleaved trees disappeared along with the riverside habitat next to the Blueway.
Not a good look.
And no lessons learned apparently either.
And now we have a design for Clonmel town centre with its mature trees all removed. In the council’s Urban Design Plan, every single tree in O’Connell street and Gladstone Street is for the chop.
This is despite:
“A large number of submissions raise concerns with the removal of existing trees,” a direct quote from the Chief Executive’s report on the 156 public submissions in the so-called consultation process that took place in 2020.
But there is no evidence that the design team made any effort to respond to the “large number” who raised concerns by altering the plan to accommodate at least some of the trees into the design. The council’s reasons for this destruction?
They have a list of excuses from “wrong trees in the wrong place”; “they spoil the vistas”; “roots interfering with services” and so on.
The public is being asked to believe that not a single mature tree on either Gladstone Street or O’Connell Street can be allowed to survive.
In April of this year SuirCan wrote to the council engineer in charge of the project requesting sight of the ground plans for the new street surfaces so we could show them to a friendly landscape architect who kindly offered his services to review the situation.
“Yes no problem,” said the engineer but frustratingly we’ve had no plans sent back and no further replies to our follow-up emails on the subject.
MOTION
At the council meeting two weeks ago, the Director of Services for Housing, Sinead Carr, responded negatively to a motion by Pat English requesting a review of the tree removal plan.
“They need to drive on with the project,” she told the councillors who eventually voted against Cllr Pat English’s motion.
The people of Clonmel have a proud history of challenging daft ideas from on high. Clonmel Corporation had plans to demolish The West Gate in the 1960s and this madness was only stopped by the activism of the Clonmel Historical Society who mounted a vigorous campaign to bring the Corporation to their senses. And now the people of the town and beyond are furious about their trees being removed.
Over 1,000 individuals (and rising) have signed an online petition to demand a rethink, and business owners and town ratepayers are writing to the council saying the same thing.
They want to know how anyone could think it was a good idea to cut down 40 years of shade and beauty to fit in with a new pavement layout at a time when we are trying to attract people into the town centre to linger, shop and have a cup of coffee at an outdoor café.
These trees belong to the people of Clonmel, not to the council, and certainly not to a team of designers who have shown zero interest in our wonderful leafy heritage.
SuirCan is suggesting that in addition to signing the online petition on our SuirCan Facebook page, people should write to the Director of Services asking for a rethink on this deeply unpopular and flawed decision.