Is Church Car Park Killing Our Lovely Trees?
As stated elsewhere, the extension of the front car park at Billinge Family Church, beneath the canopy of trees along the church's border with Crank Road, will almost certainly lead to their early death. Why is this?One of the main reasons will be compaction of the soil beneath the tarmac. This happens in an area called the rhizoshpere, which is just beneath the surface, under and around the trees.
Because the tarmac here is very thin, with an inadequate substrate, it will flex under the weight of vehicle wheels and, over time, will compact the soil beneath it, thereby depriving the trees of the things they need to keep alive - such as nutrients, oxygen and water. This effect will be worse in winter when the soil is moister for more of the time.
Most of us have seen this on lawns at some time or other. It usually occurs on the areas of heavy footfall at the entrance or exit, or where children have been playing in wet weather. Gradually the grass dies off leaving a hard, bare surface. The only solution is loosening and aeration of the soil. There is no other way.
Compaction is usually a gradual process, so its effects are not immediately obvious. Often, by the time these effects are recognised, it is too late. In this situation on the church car park, cars should cease to park under the trees, and the tarmac in this area - which was laid without planning permission - should be removed. This will then allow the compacted soil to be aerated, thereby saving the trees.
Have the tree preservation people from the council been out to inspect what they have done and if so what is their verdict on this ?, you cant just tarmac over roots of trees to disguise them so that a car can be parked there, the weight of the cars themselves will damage the roots and kill the trees .
ReplyDeleteYes, the trees and woodlands officer has been out to see the damage. Whilst they agree that the church should not have done this, they say it has been done for too long to take action. A problem is that residents are not allowed onto the church premises, so consequently are unaware of much that is going on.
ReplyDeleteWe know the trees will die if cars keep parking over their roots. Cars should immediately be prevented from parking on them, then the tarmac should be removed before it is too late. These are beautiful mature trees which give the area its character, and have also given pleasure to everyone for generations.
It is absolutely disgraceful that a church, which is a member of the Evangelical Alliance, should have been allowed to act in such a reckless manner. We do not consider this church to be a suitable unsupervised custodian of this area.
"Underdog" for the council to say its been too long now since the trees were cut down to me is fobbing us off !! a rule or law is permanent there not to be broken, can you not go above the council to a higher authority if we all went round with this attitude of " well it doesn't much matter now because its been done too long" is unacceptable !!! and for a representative of the council to state this well corruption springs to mind !!
DeleteCorrupted springs might be the reason the fobs braking off - let's write to the prime minister and report the corruption in the local council. But don't write anything a Councillor might see on here or they will see we're taking it higher - even if it 'springs to mind' they might be considered corrupt as they can't be that stupid
DeleteIts time this so called church was taken to task about its behaviour and all residents should write to the tree officer at wigan council and demand action.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I don't know the address but his name is Mr Birch
DeleteMr Birch has moved to a new Branch
DeleteWhen did he leaf
DeleteHe was un-deciduous at first and offered to leaves after workforce splintered
DeleteI should have twigged it was too much for him the poor sap, that's why he took this root, packed his trunk and boughed out to em-barked on a new career.
DeleteLol
DeleteCrank Road will not be Crank Road without these trees.
ReplyDeleteThat's not right, changing the name like that, we still want to be known as Cranks. Trees or not
DeleteDear Tree Officer,
ReplyDeleteErrrrrrr....yeh, what he said.
Regards
Mr Sheep
wigan council are a JOKE
DeleteI see a conflict of views here.
DeleteFirst the cars cause a nuisance by parking on the road, but then they shouldn’t be allowed to park on their own car park. That doesn’t make sense to me.
Perhaps we should stop parking on our own driveways as well to save the trees!!!!
DeleteI know a good solution!
DeleteWhy don't we ask the BFC members to leave their cars at home and come by helicopter?
What could possibly go wrong with that?
THE REAL BILLINGER is obviously a puppet of this church pretending to be a Billinger but his /her comments give him/her away and I don't think he/her has any sense at all and obviously needs reprogramming..
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DeleteSee there you go again, a reasonable and civil suggestion met by derogatory personal remarks. Alternative transport suggestions instantly make him a puppet??? Google How to make Friends and Influence People you may benefit
I agree, this real billinger is neither real nor a Billinger. Some people will go to any length to fool us. Even going to the trouble of being born here, buying a house in Billinge and living here all their lives. Who does he think he is. Why should we believe him just cause he's talking sense. It's people like him who make us look stupid and we won't accept it. I'm putting my fingers in my ears and going la, la, la, la, la. Sorry, I can't hear youuuuuu.
DeleteCan I distance myself from this comment. Whoever posted it, I am sympathetic to your intentions and understand your frustrations with the comments of some contributors but either use a different tag or go anonymously. I don't mind being quoted on anything I have written but I can speak for myself and have decided not to engage in further discussion on this site as I don't feel it achieves anything.
DeleteIt's quite obvious that the administrator of the site is incapable of moderating or controlling the site and will not therefore take the right and responsible action to close it down.
ReplyDeletePreferring instead to pour fuel on the fire and allow people to verbally abuse each other and make scathing accusations with no moderation at all.
The longer you keep it a live blog, the bigger the fool you are ! If it's what you intended you have achieved your goal but have some sense of decorum and shut it down.
is this one of kerry,s mouthings
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