Lambeth Lib Dem Councillor Donna Harris has today authored an open letter to Lambeth Council calling for it to sign up to the London Tree Officers' Association's Joint Mitigation Protocol.

The key protocol establishes best practice in the processing and investigation of tree root induced building damage, which is used in decisions about whether trees should be felled or not.

Established in 2008 after input from insurers, local authority tree and risk managers, engineers and arboricultural consultants, the protocol has been signed by the neighbouring Boroughs of Southwark, Croydon and Merton as well as the Labour-controlled Boroughs of Newham, Islington and Camden, but not Lambeth Council.

Sign the open letter today to call on Lambeth Council to sign up to the Joint Mitigation Protocol:

"Councillor Rezina Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air, London Borough of Lambeth, Lambeth Town Hall, London, SW2 1RW

Dear Cllr Chowdhury,

As you will be aware Lambeth Council felled more trees than it planted during the last calendar year. Though the administration intends to turn this trend around - apparently planting 5,000 trees over four years - there is a clear gap in the Council's policy which could undermine those efforts.

Unlike the neighbouring Boroughs of Southwark, Croydon and Merton, as well as the Labour-controlled Boroughs of Newham, Islington and Camden, Lambeth has not yet signed up to the London Tree Officers' Association's Joint Mitigation Protocol.

This protocol has been in place for more than a decade and represents an agreed method of subsidence claims management where trees are implicated as being the cause of building movement. It establishes best practice in the processing and investigation of tree root induced building damage, benchmarking time scales for responses and standards of evidence.

It balances, with the agreement of leading insurers the crucial necessity of saving trees with the need to ensure claims for subsidence and other building movement are processed quickly, ensuring residents' properties are repaired without unnecessary delay.

In Kirkstall Road, we have just seen the loss of a much cherished black poplar tree, - the UK’s rarest hardwood species - which had been in place for 130 years. The basis on which this was allowed to go ahead was highly suspect, and - we believe - would not have stood up to scrutiny under the principles of the protocol.

To avoid yet more trees being felled unnecessarily, we urge Lambeth to follow Labour colleagues across London in signing up to the protocol. We also ask that the Council reviews its criteria for issuing Tree Protection Orders, to incline policy toward saving trees.

In the context of the climate emergency and London's appalling air quality, protecting trees and planting more is absolutely critical. In short, trees are London's lungs. Lambeth must now make itself their champion.

Yours sincerely"