This petition has arisen due to the proposed loss of at least 1400 trees on the Lady Dane development in Faversham. The disposal of half the plot to a different developer 6 years after the original planning permission was gained, resulted in confusion regarding the new spine and commercial service roads into the estate (due to the new applicant not having gained planning permission and proposing to change the position of the commercial road) and no clear idea of how many of the remaining 353 trees, lining Love Lane, would be felled, this was originally an established (30 year old) windbreak and rural historic feature of the eastern boundary between the built area of Faversham and agricultural land, a visual benefit for the people living opposite the hedge along Love Lane.
Despite calls to The Tree Warden at SBC and appeals to KCC Highways there was nothing which could be done to save 98 of those trees, which were cut down by order of the landowner on 12/02/22.
The loss of the remaining trees lining Love Lane and also the windbreak field dividers is now in the balance, with the council yet to decide upon the Fernham Homes and Crest Nicholson Phase 2 applications, with the proposed loss of the majority of those 1300 trees.
The drawings in both applications show replanting, but not sufficient to remedy the loss of these trees, in terms of their maturity, their ability to absorb carbon dioxide and provide oxygen, in terms of the insect population living in them that will be lost, as well as all the web of fauna and flora that depend upon the insects/trees as a food supply or for nesting/hibernation. The trees lining Love Lane help to prevent flooding of the road surface. Where the hedging further down Love Lane opposite the cemetery has been removed there have been puddles covering half of the road. The new crossing point over Love Lane (opposite the Crest Nicholson show home) gets so muddy and in a deep puddle that it cannot be used as a crossing point.
With climate change, sewerage and the new environment bill all being very real pressures on new developments as well as established residents in Swale, we must lay the foundations now for a realistic sustainable future for the coming generations.
60% of the Fernham Homes development in their current proposal is going to be impermeable surfaces. Impermeable surfaces do not absorb water and the water has to go somewhere.
Trees soak up water, they shade, they enrich the soil, they provide habitats, they enrich our air, they provide great biodiversity opportunities.
We must ensure that all new development now retains as many original trees as possible, plus that the onus is on developers to plant as many new trees as are removed.
It is heartbreaking to hear that the council are buying hundreds of new saplings, or using grant money, when thousands of trees are at the same time being killed for housing estates.

This ePetition ran from 11/03/2022 to 22/04/2022 and has now finished.

279 people signed this ePetition.