London’s Trees For The Chop

London’s Trees For The Chop

Thursday 31st May 2007

The London Assembly released a report this week highlighting that thousands of trees may have been cut down necessarily in London over the past 5 years as a result of fake insurance claims.

The London Assembly Environmental Committee has estimated that 2,000 trees have felt the chop; figures which it sites in its report into London’s trees entitled ‘Chainsaw Massacre’.

The report states that most of the loss is being felt in London’s suburbs and suggests that many of the trees chopped down on insurance grounds were done so with very little evidence. Insurers claim that subsistence which causes damage to property can be as a result of tree roots and is the main reason why trees are being pulled down on such a large scale.

The London Assembly are worried that the future of London’s greenery will be harmed if this trend continues and states that although there are an additional 8,000 trees in London compared to 5 years ago – most of these are newly planted.