KEEPING GREEN
As spring finally arrives we can appreciate the benefit of the trees in Marylebone, softening the hard landscape and absorbing both the sound and pollution of traffic on the busy main roads which run through and along the boundaries of our area.
So, we were concerned to see Westminster City Council classify Marylebone as an area of lowest priority for tree planting in Westminster in their recent consultation document (termed ‘treat with caution'). Not only would this mean no further planting for most of Marylebone but also ‘existing street trees that are inappropriate to their townscape context will not be succeeded, and consideration will be given to their removal. Consideration will always be given to replacing any loss, but it may not be in the same part of Westminster'.
There is a strong presumption that in Marylebone the formal Georgian and Victorian streets should be hard and treeless, to contrast with the trees in parks and garden squares. This idealises the Marylebone urban landscape and risks denying us the benefit of future tree-planting, when we already have one of the lowest density of trees in London and some of the most polluted roads. Nor does it take account of the fact that many streets are not architecturally homogenous (my own street is a mixture of Georgian terrace, 1970s townhouses and modern offices). Curiously also, Baker Street and Gloucester Place are not included with the major traffic routes which would benefit, despite the improvement made by recent tree-planting.
Much work has been done in recent years by the W1W Street Tree Planting Initiative, instigated by local resident Mark Gazaleh, to ensure that trees have a much stronger presence on the streets of eastern Marylebone. Trees have been planted on Harley Street and Upper Wimpole Street without the effect of destroying or obscuring their formal beauty. In west Marylebone, formal austere streets mixed with garden squares may work if the trees of the squares are within the sight-lines of these streets. But that is not the case for most of us, who do not have a vista towards a Georgian town square.
We have fed these comments back to Westminster and hope that the revised policy will be more sympathetic to the needs of Marylebone, not just for residents but also for the many visitors to the area.
LOVE YOUR STREET!
London Festival of Architecture
The streets of London are our most significant public spaces but, residential or commercial, we often do not give them the love they deserve. How many times do you pass a piece of street and wonder why nothing is done to clear it up, clean it up, improve it and make it better?
The London Festival of Architecture 2010 which runs from the 19th June to 4th July is looking for 500 spaces around London where communities and professionals can work together to come up with ideas and actions that respond to the Festival's theme of The Welcoming City - creating spaces and places that are enjoyable and amenable, reinforcing the Olympic slogan of ‘London welcomes the World in 2012.'
If you have an idea of a piece of street, a public space that you think should be improved let us know what you think should be done to it. You can also make suggestions directly to the organisers of the festival. For more information visit their website at www.lfa2010.org.
Carl Upsall
