November Progress Report : Replacing the felled trees in The Haugh

Following the felling of 42 poplar trees in The Haugh, representatives from Dunblane Environment Group (a DDT working group) and Dunblane Community Council have met officials from Stirling Council’s Land Services to discuss what kind of replacement trees should be planted, and the community is invited to send us their ideas.

The poplars were planted to commemorate the coronation in 1953 and several years ago began falling during storms, one by one, as they reached the end of their natural lives. Dunblane Environment Group volunteers, who maintain the border and beds in The Haugh for the community, recently called in Land Services to check the trees. Stirling Council’s tree surgeon then condemned all 42 as a danger to the public, and they were felled.
The plan is to replace them with silver birch, red birch and a few oak trees. They will all be fastigiate, ie with a narrow, erect habit. The border was developed with a woodland theme and the new trees will be planted in natural-looking groups.

Members of the community are invited to comment on this choice of trees no later than Sunday 24th November 2019 so that the Council can schedule planting the new trees over the winter period. Please put your comments onto the Community Council Facebook page, the Dunblane Development Trust Facebook page, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with Haugh Trees in the subject line.

Late September Update

We have just received notification from Network Rail. They have agreed that we can proceed with felling of the trees on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th October. This will be between the hours of 8am and 5pm. This will only be for the felling of the trees whilst a supervisor from Network Rail is on site. The following week we will be cutting up the felled trees into manageable sizes and the branches will be chipped as previously discussed. This work will also be undertaken between the hours of 8am and 5pm. As you will all appreciate, these are very large trees and we do not want to take any risks with the public and rail users. We are therefore going to close the pathways on this entire side of the river until all chainsaw works have been completed. It is estimated this should take no longer that 1 week. Your help and patience in dealing with this matter has been much appreciated. Hopefully we can get these trees felled safely and with as little damage as possible.
Derek Leitch, Land Services Officer (Wallace)

Early September Update from Derek Leitch, Land Services Officer, Stirling Council

The Council has appointed a contractor for the felling works. There has also been a long discussion with Network Rail around times that we can fell the trees due to the proximity with the rail line. Planning permission has been received and everything is now in place. The proposed dates and times for felling are
 
Friday 27th September           01:15 to 04:45
Saturday 28th September      01:15 to 08:45
Sunday 29th September         01:15 to 04:45
 
I appreciate there is going to be some noise disturbance in surrounding houses. We are going to inform the closest residences via a mail drop. We will also inform our Communications team. If the Community Council could inform the local community as much as possible that would be appreciated. The local police station will be informed along with the Councils Contact Centre in case of any enquiries. As a further safety issue, I will be looking to close all the paths on that side of the river on the Friday afternoon until all the chainsaw works have been completed. This will allow for the safety of the public and the contractor on site. The only issue I can see causing us to stop works would be the weather.
 
 
Derek Leitch
Land Services Officer (Wallace)
 
Street Cleaning and Grounds Maintenance
Environment and Place
Stirling Council
Endrick House
Kerse Road
Stirling
FK7 7SG
 

Original Article in August 2019

High risk trees lining the public path by the War Memorial are to be felled as they pose an imminent danger of falling branches.

Read more on the council website here.

See the Stirling News article