Tom Roser a professional Arboriculturalist with 15 years’ experience in the arboricultural industry, is speaking out over something deeply worrying that appears to be taking place in Richmond Park, He says: “In my professional opinion a number of trees in Richmond Park appear to have been subjected by The Royal Parks to a ruthless pruning regime. This appears to me to have resulted in a number of trees either dying or suffering a great deal of harm directly as a result of the works carried out.” Although employed as a tree officer by a London Borough, Tom Roser is expressing his own views only.

The Oak Tree in the photo above is near Kingston Gate. Girth 6.10m (20ft) estimated age, 400 years old, Historical context, round the time of Elizabeth 1st. Around 2008 this tree was pruned so hard by the Parks Authorities, that in the Arborist’s view serious harm was inevitable. The tree died in 2018. In the Arborist’s view the tree could have been made safe and kept for many more years with more sympathetic treatment, bearing in mind the age of the tree, and the fact that Richmond Park is the National Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a Special Area of Conservation.

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To find out more about the campaign the link takes you to the open letter where the Arborist speaks his mind. There are 376 trees that were recently felled, left as a high stump, or the Arborist believes were pruned excessively causing serious harm. There are photos of these trees with a description beside each. The Arborist examined most of these trees; he feels that more could have been done to preserve them. https://open-letter-to-royal-parks.co.uk/