Alan Gibson, AKA the ‘Urbane Forager’, has written to the council to try to prevent any further destruction of fruit trees at the Mansbridge Community Orchard after ten mature apple trees were reportedly felled; council says "We are confident that many of the trees will regenerate."
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“Myself and other interested parties have been cultivating and picking fruit from the numerous apple trees in this area for the last few years. I spotted this regrettable and avoidable carnage when visiting the Mansbridge Community Orchard with my children, to judge when we should organise a community Blossom Walk in the area, something we do each year at this time,” says Alan in his letter.
“If we had been asked, we would have been happy to point out the apple trees, which could have been pruned and saved for the benefit of everyone.”
Alan says he’s been granted full permission, through the city’s Court Leet, to maintain the fruit trees in the area as Mansbridge Community Orchard, and maps fruit trees in the area.
Southampton City Council didn't want to comment, other than to say its complaints team has been passed the letter.
Update 24/4/14 pm The council's Landscape and Development Manager said that the council had entered into an agreement with the University of Southampton to maintain their meadow as part of the Monks Path and Monksbrook Greenway. The aim is for the university to get a more secure site while there is "greater public access and improved ecological management of the area with all the benefits to the public that these bring."
"Working with the university we have been able to provide new infrastructure for the public to access this otherwise privately owned meadow and as part of these works we have also been working on the accessibility of the Monks Path itself. The aim of the works on the Monks Paths is to improve visibility, accessibility and security to the adjacent University Land. This area had become overgrown and we have received complaints about it in the past. The works therefore were designed to increase visibility and access along the path by cutting back and coppicing vegetation. We also created a dead hedge to help with securing the boundary of the adjacent University Land and it is hoped that this will also help with reducing fly-tipping particularly as our team removed several televisions etc from this area whilst working there.
'A certain amount of coppicing... had to be undertaken'
"Unfortunately this has meant that a certain amount of coppicing of trees along this path has had to be undertaken, however, we are content that these works do comply with both our management aims for this area which is a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation and our SLA with the University. We are confident that many of the trees will regenerate and continue to provide an important food source for the local wildlife, and will also then be available for foraging by local residents."
- Listen to Alan Gibson chatting about the community orchard, and 'urbane foraging', in our earlier piece here.
Links
The Urbane Forager website
The Urbane Forager blog
Campaign for a community orchard in Mansbridge Facebook page