SOUTH AMERICAN TREE HAS HUGE PERSONALITY - BUT MONKEY PUZZLER IS SET FOR THE CHOP

                           

The doomed monkey puzzle tree in Clee Crescent 

A TERMINAL encounter with a chainsaw beckons for monkey puzzle tree in the front garden of a house in Grimsby.

Time was when there was a craze for planting these trees because of their novelty value - not least that they are related to a species that once flourished when dinosaurs roamed the planet.

However, as they grow, they often block out the light from windows - as has happened with this specimen in Clee Crescent.

The tree is understood to have been protected by a preservation order, but the householder has successfully applied to North East Lincolnshire Council to have this lifted.

Had it stayed, it might have lived to 1,000 which is the timespan achieved by counterparts in its native habitats in Chile - where it is the national tree - and Argentina.

It is not known if its timber has any characteristics that make it of special commercial  value.

Also due to be felled are five trees in the rear garden of the same property though work is unlikely  to be permitted until it has been ascertained that they are not being used by nesting songbirds.

Elsewhere in Grimsby, an application to remove nine mature Leylandii trees at 1b Bargate  is understood to have been withdrawn.

The Grimsby News says: Trees in urban settings invariably have to be managed, but to remove them in entirety should surely be the last resort? This monkey puzzle tree may not be a great beauty, but it has personality and, as such, is a feature both of the property and of the wider streetscape. Not only that, but it does its own modest  bit to soak up carbon from the atmosphere. Could not the council step in and provide an alternative home for it, perhaps in a park or even a site at the far end of North Promenade?