ABSTRACT
After a brief survey of the ownership of roadside trees in both country and city, this historical review investigates the politics and policies of street trees management in the UK. Traditionally trees were not just grown in woodlands, but additionally in hedgerows, from which they also adorned roads. In cities the Public Health Amendment Act, 1890 can be seen as the start of a coherent policy to plant and manage trees, as from then onwards there was a possibility to raise taxes to pay for this, though of course there had been earlier examples. The famous prototype was the Thames Embankment by the Metropolitan Board of Works, where in 1870 as part of the sanitary transformation of London, trees were planted to improve environmental conditions and with a strong architectural purpose to provide a veil between the buildings and the Thames, along which the trees were maintained in a picturesque manner with a transparent broad crown. Today the predominant focus of tree planting policy responds to the climate change narrative, with ecosystems services approach. However, these generally fail to properly acknowledge the wide spectrum of social and cultural values attributed to trees, particularly with respect to the historic character of our urban treescapes. Thus, this study looks at both the implications of ownership and responsibility on the management of street trees.
