News
Possible threat to London’s Plane trees
Investigations underway to discover evidence of Plane Wilt
THE London Tree Officers Association (LTOA) and the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory, based at Reading University, have been undertaking investigations on plane trees which have been exhibiting signs of stress and disease.
So far, despite detailed study, all results have proved negative for the one we all dread - Ceratocystis platani - or Plane Wilt, which has devastated populations of planes in France, Italy, Greece and other countries on the European mainland.
These results are provisional and further study of stressed/diseased trees is ongoing.
A number of samples have been submitted to the laboratory but molecular DNA analysis has yet to confirm Ceratocystis.
Laboratory study is, however, expensive and time consuming and has to be combined with the sort of careful observation by an experienced eye, that members and the scientists at Bartletts possess.
They are looking for symptoms of wilt but know that our urban planes are in constant danger from many factors which threaten them - root severance, chemical contamination or a number of other fungal, bacterial, viral, insect and mechanical problems.
Some of these can appear similar and some can pre- dispose the trees to further attack.
The LTOA and Bartletts will continue their partnership with the assistance of members, who are always on alert to trees under stress.
They have set up a working party to report on best protective measures and co-ordinate a response.
It must always be remembered that it is easy to prove presence but cannot prove absence.
For more information contact Becky Porter on 07771 976238 or email
executive.officer@ltoa.org.uk or visit
www.ltoa.org.uk.
New training ground for London Irish
Exiles in home stretch after bumpy road to new £12m training ground
LONDON Irish RFC are now just six months away from moving into a brand new £12 million training complex that they hope will help improve their fortunes both on and off the field.
And, whilst the new Croysdale Avenue site in Sunbury-on- Thames is less than a mile away from their current training ground at The Avenue, it has been a very long journey with a number of obstacles to overcome.
The Exiles began contemplating the construction of a new training facility nearly eight years ago in 2006, and some of the clashes with local residents over the plans since then have been well publicised.
The Secretary of State was even involved and Chelsea Football Club had already had a planning application for the same site rejected, and subsequently turned their attention to Cobham, so to say it has been a challenge to get to this point would be an understatement and London Irish CEO Andy Martin
explains how proposals had to be altered and fine-tuned to make the move possible.
“We went through failures with planning, we went through public hearings, we went through appeals, we went through the Secretary of State and, eventually, we had to find a trade-off so that one solution or another was going to be accepted by residents,” he said.
“Chelsea failed because they were trying to lock it down and make it a much more secure site. Ours is a much more open, inclusive community site.”
“It was quite an unusual situation where the opposition happened to be members, so you find yourself in a situation where the parents of a lot of the kids playing for the amateur clubs were trying to stop us from doing what we needed to do to grow to accommodate more kids. So there was a lot of community stakeholder work that had to be done before we got anywhere near thinking about the design.”
Darren Baldwin, Grounds Manager at Tottenham Hotspur FC
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013 PC 5
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