Sound Barrier destruction - Urgent help

[Alien Pirate]

Hi Folks new here... Just found the site and would guess by 08:30 6th February I could well get a few suggestions......

Situation - Live alongside A3 Environmental fence has fallen down - local chainsaw larry from the council has extensively removed what little environmental vegitation barrier there was between house and road ---

Words have been said in the most progressive manner including suggesting chainsaw larry be placed on weeding duties in industrial estate car park! resultant situation Parks manager and I will be 'meeting' 0930 6th Feb being a countryside and wild life lover (sadly with no memory ability long term for which trees and shrubs match their names or physical charistics) I would just love some 'extremely sensible' suggestions as to how the area should be replanted to replace the destruction in the shortest possible growing period

thus putting the case as forceful as possible for 'reforestation' of the area...

thanks in anticipation

[hobble]

If you can find someone to identify your native natural hedge trees in the area, write them down and suggest those as replacement. Do you have a wild life trust near you? ask them for help/suggestions.
Local garden centre may advise.
Or choose mixed hedging trees, beech, hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, holly. It is hard to make suggestions as I don't know what grows there naturally.
Good luck.

[Alien Pirate]

Thanks for you guidance .. latest up date

Department of Transport have 'agreed' subject to everything! that the fence will be replaced with a 2.5 metre hi close boarded Aris rail fence. within the next financial year starting April 2008...


As for the vegitation - one hour to discovery the council plans..... will Riverside park (nature reserve) Guildford be returned to its natural state or be 'transformed into the local playing field ala Capability Brown..... The council do not appear aware of the six lanes of traffic which pass along side the reserve - the Highways department apparently need 'environmental assessments to install an environmental fence denuded of vegitation by their actions of the past three years, yet the local council can ignore 'convention' and switch on chainsaws at their leisure... within the park with no consideration of the environment!

tis a mad world!

[eeyore]

I wouldnt use the noise argument with the parks dept man if i were you as there is a wealth of research that shows hedges etc are not an effective barrier to road noise. a sound boarded fence is far more effective.

also be aware that not all chainsaw work is bad - much reserves work involves the felling or other management of trees ( I work in conservation and will shortly be doing some extensive pruning to open up a footpath to legal width)

that said it would be reasonable to suggest that the council replant a hedfge inside the sound boarding , but probably wise to focus the argument on nesting habitat /biodiveristy rather than the acoustics.

[Alien Pirate]

It should be noted - Vegitation sound barriers reduce the noise level by approximately 3 db or conversely when removed they expose the quite side of the vegitation to a 30 times increase in noise level

the use of a chainsaw in conservation should be Prohibited.... it is all too easy to start the saw trim what was decided then trim a little more cause its running......

far better use a hand saw for conservation and then the operator is too tired to actually do any damage..... As for felling 10 -20 year old trees in the name of conservation leaving deseased dead branches on older trees hastening their demise ..... the present directives from Europ and whitehall have become bibles for destruction of prefectly health living trees in the name of Bio diversity and conservation - far better let nature take its natural course with minor ammendments for foot paths etc than bring in the JCB's and destroy 'mature' swamp areas which by their very nature absord water and prevent flooding to generate imature wamps whic flood and wash away plants at the first sing of heavy rain.

Bottom line is all Local Councils have a moral duty to protect the environment if not a legal one - not destroy it - the people I met with yesterday while having their hearts in the right place while clearly accepting there was excessive and 'irrational use of the chainsaw' while generating a fencing line..... and have agreed to replace in the gaps all shrubs' trees destroyed.


Are working to a directive which states the ground should be wet enough to insert 'a six inch nail' apart from the Iron pollution of the nail itself........ one wonders what other uses the nail should be put within this countryside guidance manual - perhaps in a privy as a hook for it! suggestions on a post card etc etc