Preservation order could help save trees

Preservation order could help save trees

20 October 2021

A PRESERVATION order from the Department of Infrastructure may save trees earmarked for removal to build a new car and coach car park at the Exploris aquarium in Portaferry. A local campaign group — Portaferry Stop The Chop — applied for a tree preservation order (TPO) after Ards and North Down Council rejected their alternative plans which would have reduced the number of planned parking spaces by nine, but saved most of the mature trees.

The Department for Infrastructure confirmed this week that it is considering whether or not to make a TPO to protect trees, with a spokesman confirming that before deciding the matter, the Department must first consult with the local authority.

“Following formal consultation, the Department is now awaiting the views of council,” the spokesman added.

The matter will be discussed at the full council meeting next Wednesday with the organisation planning to invest £467,000 to clear the Portaferry site in order to create a new car and coach car park, new toilets, paths and lighting improvements in the Ropewalk area.

The project aims to provide improved facilities for visitors to Exploris and the village and is viewed as a much-needed improvement in the wake of the planned £12m aquarium at the Titanic Quarter in Belfast. This proposal will mean that Exploris will no longer be the only aquarium in Northern Ireland.

The new car-park, which has received funding from the Department  for Infrastructure, should have been completed by November, but the council succeeded in getting an extension to the funding until January. However, Cathie McKimm from the campaign group, claimed that the council had wrongly given itself approval to remove the trees.

“The council had not done environmental screening in its plans, which they are now doing and gave themselves unlawful permission to chop down the trees,” she explained.

“When we wrote to the DfI, the planning headquarters wrote back to say that under the new legislation introduced in 2015 when responsibility for planning transferred to councils, Ards and North Down was not allowed to give itself permission to chop down trees on land that it owned in a conversation area.”

She said that the council applied on September 1 to remove the trees which was followed up by the campaigners applying for the TPO.

“All we know is that the trees are not saved yet, the original proposal is still on the table,” said Ms McKimm.

“I have no confidence in this council to listen to what the community wants. Nearly 64,000 people signed a petition against this proposal and we reckon 20 per cent of those are from the Ards and North Down Council area.”

The group held a free concert, headlined by musician Colum Sands, at Portaferry Community Centre last Sunday in order to raise more public awareness of their concerns for the trees. 

Last year, the Co Down songwriter’s story-poem about the award-winning Invisible Tree of Rostrevor Oakwood, was given voice by neighbours and environmental campaigners aged from nine to 92 in the short film, Rhyme for Justice?. 

Ards poet, Moyra Donaldson, wrote a poem for the 14 trees at Portaferry which was read out at the event, along with other poetry inspired by the local area. 

Lily Devlin, who started the campaign to save the tree, said that she and other campaigners in Portaferry have been “humbled and inspired” by the great support they have received in their campaign to save the trees, not just from local people and those from the Borough, but from all around the world. 

Speaking on behalf of the group she said: “Over 63,500 people have now signed our petition — a testimony to the strength of opposition to the plans to destroy beautiful trees in the heart of our historic town, for a car park, of all things. 

“We’ve been trying as best we can to reason with the council over this absurd decision and get it to reconsider its plans but, to date, it has not taken its  proposal to fell 14 trees for new parking off the table.”

A council spokeswoman confirmed that an updated report on the Portaferry Ropewalk Improvement Scheme will be brought to the full meeting next Wednesday and will include consideration of the Department for Infrastructure’s proposals for a TPO in the area. 

She stressed that the council had not been aware of the need to get planning permission from the DfI for the removal of the trees until August.

“This legislation had not been referenced by DfI Planning in any previous correspondence with the council about the proposed Scheme,” she said. “The legislation requires the council to gain consent from DfI Planning for works carried out to any trees on land owned by the Council and within a conservation area.  

“This is anomalous with the Scheme of Delegation that DfI Planning has already approved for the council in relation to the decisions the Planning Committee can determine. However, having sought legal advice, the council has applied to DfI Planning for consent.”

The spokeswoman said that as per the council’s standard procedures, the agenda for the meeting and a copy of the updated report will be available to the public on the council’s website within 24 hours of them being made available to elected members.