Consultation to remove street trees as part of Corby Towns Fund project
Works are continuing to deliver the Corby Station link road project, which aims to improve the public realm and provide an attractive and safe pedestrian/cycle connection between the town centre and the train station.
The scheme has been designed to avoid the removal of mature trees along the route as far as possible, to preserve the street scene. However, some trees have been identified for removal and North Northamptonshire Council, a consultation on these plans took place between Thursday 6th March 2025 until Friday 4th April 2025.
Alongside the removal works, a significant tree-planting initiative is planned to replace these trees and put in place planting within the scheme and for other spaces in Corby.
The maximum number of trees identified for potential removal are 40, this will be continually evaluated as works progress and only trees which are identified as absolutely necessary will be removed. Of those trees to be removed, a significant number are already dead, posing a safety hazard to pavement and road users, or are affected by Ash Dieback disease and need to be removed as part of our council wide programme to tackle this national challenge.
There are two main areas of the scheme where unfortunately some trees are to be removed to enable works – in one location this is due to the pavement needing to be widened to ensure safety of users and the other where the ground level is being raised to safely close the underpass and create a public amenity area.
The consultation undertaken is in line with national guidance which requires councils to consult on the removal of ‘street trees’ which meet certain criteria. Any trees that are already dead or identified as having Ash Dieback did not require consultation. In this case this means that the council consulted on 20 trees. Any tree covered by the consultation had a notice attached to it.
However, for transparency a notice was also attached to the dead or diseased tree or to the group of trees which stated the reason they are being removed.
Below is the Tree Consultation Report which details the 4 comments received during the consultation.
The Decision Report is also available below, it details the options and recommendations made. The outcome of the consultation is: The Council shall remove this tree to ensure the safety of all footway and cycleway users by progressing the proposed works in connection to the Town Centre to Train Station Link Road project.
DECISION REPORT ON THE 20 STREET TREES
Notices have been added to each of the trees in this consultation to provide our statutory 28-days’ notice to remove the trees. This notice commenced on the 2nd May 2025.
The 20 dead or dying trees which require removal and do not form part of the consultation have also had a notice on each tree or group of trees and is shown below. They do not require the statutory 28-days’ notice to remove these trees.
NOTICE FOR TREE EXEMPT FROM CONSULTATION
A significant tree-planting initiative is planned to replace these trees, with 300 being planted in the following areas:
- 150 trees along Oakley Road,
- 75 trees within the Tresham College grounds,
- 25 trees in Coronation Park (planted in March 2025),
- 12 trees in the area near KFC,
- 38 trees in West Glebe Park.
The trees have been chosen from varieties that are well suited to the location and will provide a mixture of benefits to the area such as spring flowering and autumn colour, a mix of both younger (between 1.8m-2.1m high) and more mature trees (between 2.4-3.0m high) are being planted. Some trees were planted before the end of the planting season in March 2025, with the remaining trees planned for the next planting window from December 2025. A maintenance plan will be in place to support their development and growth.
Due to the dense vegetation at certain points along the route additional low-quality shrubs and young self-set saplings are due to also be removed. These are not subject to consultation.
Following the consultation, it is proposed that trees are removed with extra planning and assessments being conducted for nesting birds throughout the works.
Any felled timber will be used in our woodland sites and will be cut down into 1 to 2 metre lengths and stacked up to create a log pile. This will create a small habitat providing a microclimate for wildlife such as newts, invertebrates, and small mammals. The piles also create a safe place for hibernation.