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To: Plymouth City Council

Stop Plymouth’s Tree Massacre

As residents and friends of Plymouth, we call on the City Council to immediately stop any plans to cut down our beloved city’s trees on Armada Way. We demand the city’s regeneration plans are updated, in order to incorporate and maintain our existing well-established trees.

Why is this important?

Plymouth City Council is planning to chop down the 129 beautiful mature trees that give life to our city centre!

But after months of tireless campaigning by our group of Plymouth residents, the Council just agreed to temporarily pause the felling, and open a "community engagement process". This is our chance to take the campaign to the finishing line, and we need your help.

The engagement is closing in days. Add your name now to the urgent petition to save the trees – and Plymouth's school children will deliver our voices directly to the City Council.

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We all support regenerating our city centre. But we want the Council to present plans that respect and keep the well-established trees that make our city a wonderful place to live – rather than bulldozing them.

These 129 trees are a real asset to the city. They cover Armada Way, a broad pedestrianised street that runs through the heart of Plymouth. Plus, it’s been proven that established urban trees are key for providing shade, urban cooling and water absorption, as well as improving air quality, and even reducing crime and improving sales for the local shops.

That’s why the local residents have been fighting tooth and nail to save the trees from the Council’s chainsaws. They’ve been patrolling the trees day and night, handing out flyers, attaching knitting and ribbons to the trees, and their petition has now gathered thousands of signatures!

But with days until the community engagement closes, we need to up the pressure and send a clear message to the Council: People from Plymouth and beyond stand against this tree massacre.

Sign and share this petition with everyone you know!

(For more information follow our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/strawplymouth or visit our website at https://strawplymouth.com)

Plymouth, UK

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Updates

2023-03-31 13:12:08 +0100

As you may have seen in the media, our injunction to keep the remaining trees safe, has been up-help by a High Court Judge. Plymouth City Council have a case to answer over what we believe to be their unlawful decision to use emergency powers to cut down our trees in the way they did - with no scrutiny from other councillors or the public.

We will be asking for permission for the judicial review soon and expect it to be in 3-4 months.

Please follow us on social media and via our mailing list for regular updates!

Strawplymouth.com

2023-03-11 17:03:12 +0000

We have had a response to our lawyer's and will now continue our Crowd Justice campaign to cover ongoing legal costs. Please consider donating!

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/a-case-against-plymouth-city-council/

Cllr Drean has gone back on his statement that he will definitely write to the DfT to request a funding extension. He now says he is considering it.

2023-02-25 16:06:07 +0000

Still waiting on the results from the "meaningful community engagement". We are told this they won't be ready for a couple of weeks!

Cllr Drean has agreed to write to the DfT to ask for an extension to the funding deadline.

STRAW has sent PCC an 11 page letter from a lawyer outlining what we believe to be their failings.

2023-02-12 14:28:11 +0000

The "meaningful" community engagement is over now and we got lots of people to fill in the survey. It is now up to Cllr Drean to decide whether he will listen to the people!

2023-02-05 18:24:54 +0000

The council have agreed to a "meaningful community engagement process". While this process is clearly flawed we would urge anyone who cares about the trees to have their say. Details on our website when we know more! StrawPlymouth.com

2023-01-29 11:05:07 +0000

Monday 30th January is the date of the full council meeting when the fate of the trees will be decided.

2022-12-19 07:22:37 +0000

The hoardings are up and work is being carried out dangerously close to the trees. Damage could be done to the roots. We must stop this now!

2022-12-14 15:09:58 +0000

10,000 signatures reached

2022-11-26 10:48:24 +0000

The council have agreed to a pause in the felling while they consider the opinions of local people. Last night we heard that rather than meeting with us and allowing us to all come to a mutually agreeable solution they will not meet with us but rather look into saving the odd tree. This is not good enough!

2022-11-17 12:34:13 +0000

5,000 signatures reached

2022-11-01 15:53:40 +0000

1,000 signatures reached

2022-10-19 09:13:12 +0100

500 signatures reached

2022-10-09 18:28:59 +0100

100 signatures reached

2022-10-07 20:22:40 +0100

50 signatures reached

2022-10-07 15:38:03 +0100

25 signatures reached

2022-10-07 10:15:55 +0100

10 signatures reached

2022-10-07 09:16:15 +0100

Please follow the Facebook page to get involved and talk about what we can do!
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086140395806