One of London’s ‘Trees of the Year’ could be felled to build council housing

The famous Pagoda Tree is now at risk(Picture: Mitcham Cricket Green Community and Heritage)

One of London’s ‘Trees of the Year’ could be cut down to make way for council housing.

The Pagoda Tree, which is around 70-years-old, sits in the centre of Mitcham’s Canons heritage site in Merton, south London.

It was named the borough’s Tree of the Year in 2019, with the area seeing nearly £5 million of National Lottery investment in recent years.

But the council owned land has now been named as one of four sites where 93 new homes are set to be built.

A report from the Royal Horticultural Society has said the tree faces an existential threat.

This is despite original plans submitted in 2019 calling the tree a ‘focal point of the scheme and a key retained landscape feature’.

The council’s said: ‘Should the tree be retained, it was likely to suffer some significant, unavoidable impacts both above and below ground which, when taken together, amounted to a well-justified argument for removal and replacement of the tree.’

The pagoda tree, which is around 70 years old, sits in the centre of Mitcham’s Canons heritage site in Merton, south London (Picture: Mitcham Cricket Green Community and Heritage) A report from the Royal Horticultural Society has said the tree faces an existential threat (Picture: Mitcham Cricket Green Community and Heritage)

The surrounding canopy will also need to be removed to make way for the homes, which ‘will greatly diminish the tree’s local visual amenity value’ and ‘compromise the tree’s ability to photosynthesise and produce energy’.

Mitcham Cricket Green Community and Heritage Group said: ‘The tree is an extroadinary specimen and part of the large collection of mature trees across The Canons grounds.

‘This arboretum is the result of careful selection and planting in the grounds over many years.

‘The nursery site is now the focus of attention for a significant housing development by Merton Council’s own development company Merantun Development.’

Merton Council has been contacted for comment.

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