Trees

Autumn. Probably my favourite time of year, weather getting crisper, kids back at school, getting out furry boots and snuggly jumpers, looking forward to the various celebrations of light in our City and trees turning to glorious shades of red and orange.

Many of the terraced streets in Westcotes and throughout the city are tree lined. They make an area feel brighter, more attractive and generally more pleasant to live in.  They also have some fantastic environmental benefits such as providing shade and reducing flooding (see the CABE report).

In 2007 the Leicester Labour Party pledged to plant 10,000 new trees in the City, a lot of people thought this was unrealistic and we would never do it. This commitment has been part of my Cabinet responsibilities for the last 16 months and I am proud to say that we will have exceeded that target, and delivered the promise, by the end of this year.

I've had the opportunity to take part in some of the tree planting sessions with communities from across the City.  Planting historic Elm's in Evington, gorgeous pink blossoming cherry trees at a Youth club in Mowacre, hedging at the Gorse Hill City Farm and countless fruit tree plantings at schools across the City.

Trees are important to me, my family trade is in coppicing (a traditional method of managing woodland and producing wood for business) and I have many happy early memories of watching my Grandad chopping trees and working with the wood afterwards to make benches, besoms (traditional brooms) and swill baskets.

 

Having said all that - the trees in Westcotes drive me mad!

We have lime trees that produce horrible sticky excretions that have to be pollarded about every 2 years leaving them looking like they've been hit by lightening. The photo is one from my street which I took a few years ago in horror the first time I saw the tree specialists leaving the tree looking like this!

We also have Fruit trees planted in bizarre places like Fosse Road South where the fruit cannot be picked but splatters all over the pavements in a thoroughly horrible way and makes walking under them a game of risk, to see if you'll be hit (I've felt them whistling past my ear twice so far this year).

Then we have the leaves.  Remember those gorgeous Autumn hues, the joy of wading through piles of crunchy leaves?

Then it rains and the leaves go from gorgeous to grim before you know it.

I can guarantee (unless it miraculously doesn't rain) that for the next month the majority of calls/comments I receive from people living in Westcotes will be about slippery patches of leaves.  Our cleaning crews switch from their normal routines into fighting the deluge of slimy piles of leaf debris that pile up again as soon as the wind blows. They get tracked into houses and shops and can make some parts of pavements resemble an ice rink.

I have found myself (nearly) wishing we could get rid of  them by Winter! Maybe I'm just following an age old tradition in this country of having a moan about how we seem to struggle to get everyday things right (come back in January for a snow post!) , luckily we also have a reputation for having a good sense of humour and this timetable I spotted at Birmingham New Street Station recently certainly made me smile!