New NR vegetation and fencing works taking place in N21 3QA
There is a strip of land alongside the Great Northern Line railway between Palmers Green and Winchmore hill. It contains some wild space land that belongs to Network Rail, but people have often taken as part of their gardens. I live in Woodland Way, N21 3QA, and my garden backs onto this space.
NR are about to fence off their land to provide a clear boundary between gardens and railside wild space. This is not a problem - this is fair enough.
However, in that wild space are many very old, beautiful and protected trees that have stood for 100 years since the woodland was cleared and houses were built. NR have a history of wanting to cut the trees back or down, despite their posing no threat to the railways and being a great source of beauty. This was their most recent attempt…
They’ve already had teams out in the last few days with chainsaws cutting back vegetation that would obstruct the fence. Again, this is understandable if not ideal in what is supposed to be a wildlife corridor.
However, there are also many very old and mature [and protected] trees - two that I can see at the back of my neighbours’ garden - that lie on the exact border between garden and wild space. Despite the fact that they’ve survived NR’s attentions in previous years, I fear that an overzealous NR and fencing contractors might feel those trees have to go to make room for an arbitrarily straight-line new fence.
If possible, I’m trying to get NR and hopefully Enfield Council to weigh in and make sure there’s no threat to the trees.
I’ve contacted Network Rail about my concerns [the reference for that was 221216-000107], and also Enfield Council, and hope to hear back from them soon.
Any extra support you could also add by pressuring either would be a great help.
