Victoria Park Nursery Tree Decimated

[Druidor]

Well it looks like Laurel and Hardy have visited Victoria park over the holidays.

The once beautiful tree that provided a scenic backdrop to the school and perfect shade to the childrens play area has been destroyed by an incompetent tree surgeon who picked the wrong tree to prune.

[blackdog]

Looks like a fairly standard pruning of a tree that was getting dangerously big - which other tree needed attention?

[only me]

You mentioned this on the other local website and you were wrong there too Druidor. The branches were becoming much too large for a site like this.  The nursery were faced with three choices: 
1 - Ignore it and hope that one or more of the branches didn't give way under it's own weight or through damage from the various extreme weather incidents we're experiencing in recent years (Not great if kids are running around underneath, but could also cause other damage to the grounds or playpark anyway) In these days of risk assessments and liability concerns it would be difficult to argue the case for keeping it untouched.  I'm sure the nursery management don't fancy a period in Wormwood Scrubs for sticking their head in the sand.
2 - Get a tree surgeon in to remove it completely
3 - Get a tree surgeon in to cut back, or pollard, to allow new growth and therefore, over time, provide shade for the play area.