— 20 trees are being added to new depaving locations, but residents say tree coverage in the area has been reduced by 61 trees since 2009.
Following street greening efforts in areas such as Stoneybatter (pictured), Dublin City Council is planning to start new greening in parts of the Tenters neighbourhood in Dublin 8.
Urban greening has been proven to be beneficial to mental health, reduce air pollution, add to biodiversity, and, in some cases, help reduce rainwater from overwhelming the water treatment systems.
The Tenters neighbourhood is an area west of Clanbrassil Street, north of the South Circular Road, and somewhat south/east of Cork Street.
Leslie Moore, head of Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services at the council, said: “These greening interventions are part of Dublin City Council’s plan for Greening the City. Recent years has seen significant works to create new green spaces and increase the tree canopy cover in the Liberties, North east Inner City and Stoneybatter to make Dublin a more sustainable and climate-resilient city.”
The council said that in support of the Trees for Tenters community group, it has been looking at opportunities for de-paving and planting trees in the Tenters and has selected five sites with work already finished on one.
One location called the ‘Monument Site’ has been completed with works due to start in the coming weeks at the following locations: Clarence Mangan Road and Greenville Avenue Junction; Petrie and Gilbert Road Junction; Merton and Donore Avenue Junction; and Clarence Mangan Road.
A spokesperson for the council said: “The Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services team has now identified suitable locations for tree planting which have been selected so that trees will not interfere in the future with overhead cables or underground services.”
“At each location, the paving will be removed and soil introduced to create optimum conditions for trees to grow. The introduction of organic soils and use of pollinator-friendly herbaceous perennial planting will enhance biodiversity in the neighbourhood as well as bringing seasonal colour onto the streets of the Tenters,” the council said.
The council said that 20 trees will be planted as part of the greening including using native and ornamental species, including Magnolia loebneri ‘Merrill’, Betula pubescens, Betula pendula, Pinus sylvestris and Amelanchier arborea ‘Robin Hill’.
In an Instagram post last month, Trees for Tenters welcomed the council’s work but said much more needed to be done as a the area has lost almost 20% of its street trees since 2009 — based on a survey of satellite images the group estimates a reduction from 310 to 249 trees in the area.
“We believe the rate of tree loss is set to accelerate rapidly in the coming years considering the age profile and health of the remaining trees, most of which were planted before the turn of the century,” the group said.
“We are deeply concerned that there appears to be no systematic programme to replace the on-street trees and we fear that within a decade or two much of the street tree cover in this area (and areas across central Dublin) will have been lost,” said Trees for Tenters.
The group said: “We hugely appreciate the new planting being done by Dublin City Parks (in our area on Weaver Square, Blackpitts, and micro-greening initiatives planned in the area). And we fully appreciate the need to prioritise streets that currently have little or no tree cover. But we do not see that as in any way justifying or excusing the loss of street trees on streets that currently have trees.”
The group said that it understands that a programme to replace the trees would require significant additional resources for build-outs and survey works to allow for larger tree pits but thinks that action is needed midst of the climate and biodiversity crises.
It’s about time since the city has few green spaces around many streets. I’d suggest planting fruit trees which also benefit the biodiversity, giving food to birds who are currently eating trash.