Traffic management for autumn tree works

Essential tree safety works are coming to three locations in Redditch this October and November.

Ash trees afflicted by the global ash dieback disease are to be removed from the Pitcheroak and Foxlydiate woods and from along the Warwick Highway in Matchborough.

Deteriorating poplar trees will also be removed from the Warwick Highway area, as part of ongoing work to manage the trees now declining together in numbers, having been planted in swathes during Redditch’s new town expansion.

More suitable native tree species will be replanted where required.

It means that the Warwick Highway will have traffic lights at its roundabout with Claybrook Drive between 21-28 October during works to trees along the highway, while the car park at the Pitcheroak Woods will be closed for three weeks between 28 October and 15 November during works to trees in Pitcheroak and Foxlydiate woods.

Bromsgrove Road will also be closed between the Pitcheroak and Foxlydiate woods between 4-11 November.

The works are being done under Redditch Borough Council’s long-term Woodland Management Plan, established across 168 hectares of woodland in 1995, to manage the potential risk associated with the condition of Redditch’s countless trees and their proximity to roads, paths, and properties.

Redditch Borough Council’s portfolio holder for Environmental Services, Cllr Sharon Harvey, said: “We all love how green Redditch is. That’s no accident and, thanks to the long-term management plan that the town has been following for nearly 30 years now, we can help keep it that way. Public safety is key of course, but the bigger picture is ensuring sustainability for future generations. Thank you for your patience as our staff and contractors get on with this latest work.”

The plan aims to create more-natural woodlands that are better able to regenerate themselves organically over time, making them more sustainable. It even aims to pay for itself by using forestry commission grants and selling removed timber, reducing how much council tax it would otherwise cost to safely maintain the town’s wealth of local woodlands.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Joe Baker, added: “Redditch is famous for being green and as a council we are proud to continue to promote sustainable, long-term strategies that keep it that way.”