The chair of Cardiff Civic Society has told the council to "pull its finger out" after it was revealed it had only protected 14 of the capital's trees in the last 10 years. The charity, which aims to improve the natural and built environment of the city, learned of the statistic after making a request to the council under the Freedom of Information Act.
The council confirmed that it had issued Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) on just 14 trees between January 2012 and January 2022, with the civic society claiming there had been "missed opportunities" to protect mature trees, which play an important role in improving air quality and absorbing carbon.
A number of trees across the city, including some marked as being "of note" by the Woodland Trust have been felled by developers during this period. However, the council has said that there are hundreds of TPOs already in place across Cardiff, adding that individual orders "should not be the focus" as it works on new policies to protect trees in the capital. Get the latest news from across Cardiff sent straight to your inbox for free by signing up to our newsletter.
