Established Tree Is Felled On Wimbledon's Home Bargains Site
Councillors amend Tree Preservation Order after elder is cut down
Remains of tree work on the Weir Road site. Picture: @JabirBelmehdi
An established Elder tree has been cut down to stump on a Wimbledon site being turned into a new Home Bargains store, it was revealed at a recent planning meeting.
The tree was one of four on the Weir Road site subject to a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) agreed by Merton Council in March.
But a recent planning committee meeting heard that the Elder had already been felled at that stage.
Merton had put the TPO in place as a result of negotiations with the developers over the scale of pruning back of trees on the site, which was a former Homebase store.
The TPO also covered a Horse Chestnut, Dawn Redwood and a Hornbeam. But when an officer visited on May 18, he found that the Elder had been "cut down to a stump", the meeting heard on July 14.
The developers do plan to plant five new trees on the site, before the planned opening of the new store in November.
But the felling of the Elder meant that the TPO granted in March needed amending. Councillors at the meeting agreed to amend the existing TPO to remove the now-felled Elder.
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July 18, 2022