Treemendous news for countryside campaigners: council says 'nationally significant' tree must not be felled

Bradford council has turned down house-builder Persimmon's request to fully remove to ground level the 'nationally significant' veteran ash tree pictured above. The ash is a stand-out feature of the wonderfully hedgerowed fields at Hawber Cote where Persimmon controversially is to build 138 upmarket homes. Walkers accompanied by a giant model of a curlew are pictured heading towards the ash tree during a community ramble held by Silsden's Campaign for the Countryside last May to celebrate the beauty of the Hawber fields and to lament all that will be lost to housing.

Persimmon applied to completely fell the tree last September. Soon after, as I showed in my blog of November 6th, the tree lost a major arm, apparently in high winds. The ash is thought to be around 150 years old and is protected by a preservation order. Refusing premission to fell it, Bradford council says the ash is highly significant in the landscape. It is not showing signs of ash dieback and could be a resistant specimen, adding to the importance of its retention.

The intact ash, pictured here in January 2024, is a veteran tree listed in the Woodland Trusts Ancient Tree Inventory and as such is considered to be nationally significant and irreplaceable habitat. Persimmon says it is concerned about the safety of the tree and insists the ash will inevitably succumb to the dieback disease.

The tree is shown here in all its summer splendour in 2021. The council says that on balance Persimmon's case for removing a veteran tree is not compelling and the evidence provided to justify such action doesn't outweigh the harm that would be caused by the removal of a nationally significant tree. Persimmon has the right to appeal against the decision.

Plans for 147 affordable homes in ancient Sykes Lane

Pictured above is the site plan for Yorkshire Housing's proposed development of 147 urgently-needed affordable homes in fields either side of tranquil Sykes Lane. The project, which has been submitted to Bradford council for approval, is adjacent to the  Weavers View estate of mixed-tenure affordable homes built by Yorkshire Housing on the former Riverside Works and Becks Mill site in Keighley Road opposite the Aldi supermarket.

Sykes Lane, next to the canal, for many years was home to an old-fashioned mix of pens, smallholdings, allotments, stables, buildings, shelters and sheds of the kind pictured above. It was also the site of the town's first recreation ground, opened in 1914, before the park was created in 1934. Records indicate the lane was in existence by 1565 (see my blog of February 24th, 2021).

The plans show that a new footpath would be created from the canal towpath to join Sykes Lane (pictured above), which is designated as ancient highway and will be retained in one form or another as a pedestrian route.

Yorkshire Housing's Weavers Walk development of 156 mixed-tenure affordable homes, built by Lindum, of York, fronts Keighley Road (pictured above). The estate runs west towards Sykes Lane and will be adjacent to the proposed new development, for which Yorkshire Housing's construction partner is the Vistry Group. Vistry describes itself as the country's largest home-builder.

Yorkshire Housing is a not-for-profit association and with its subsidiary Space Homes manages more than 20,000 homes for rent and low-cost home ownership. The Weavers Walk estate is pictured above in the foreground. Keighley Road can be seen on the right at the bottom of the picture. The line of trees bottom left behind the new homes is in Sykes Lane. The public can have their say online by using Bradford council's planning portal (reference 25/02807/MAF). There are more than 100 documents relating to the planning application, including reports by the council's countryside and rights of way service, the trees team and landscape architects.