STREET trees – I do so love them and hate them. Being a disabled person doesn’t stop me having many passions and interests. For the past 25 years I’ve been a keen natural historian and ecologist working for the local Wildlife Trust managing nature reserves for 10 years.

Everywhere I go there is always something in terms of nature that gets my juices flowing. I have a very small garden but love the birds that come to my bird table and also the mice that live in the ivy-covered walls of my garden.

For as long as I can remember I have loved this time of year when the rich fertile greens of summer fade away and the leaves turn and re-emerge as a rich display of oranges, golds, reds and browns. When backlit by the autumn sun the trees become an amazing stained-glass window of colour.

Streets without trees would be dull and lifeless and I’m glad that there are street trees everywhere around Witney and Oxford. But they do really rub me up the wrong way and get on my nerves. But why?

Since I became disabled things are very different. Although I’m not in a wheelchair, walking is very difficult and it is easy to trip over.

About a week ago I tripped on some uneven paving in Witney that looked like it might have been lifted by tree roots. I fell forward flat on my wrists and elbows.

My talking watch was smashed and my shopping crushed. My wrists, knees and pride were badly bruised and it took about a week for me to stop feeling aches and pains and feel comfortable walking again.

Street trees certainly do add a lovely touch of green as well as autumn colour to our towns and cities, but the roots often lift up paving and distort pavements and walkways causing trip hazards for people and great expense for the local authority.

It’s a difficult problem because the public wouldn’t tolerate the trees being felled and I certainly wouldn’t want that. But pavements and pedestrian areas have to be maintained. The pavements get replaced and then the tree roots grow a little more and pavements have to be replaced again. It’s an ongoing cycle.

Some species of trees such as Beech, have shallow root systems and would not be ideal for planting in cities and towns.

Other trees with deeper root systems would perhaps be much better and would not cause such damage. And of course if somebody planted the wrong species 100 years ago, then nothing much can be done about it because you can’t easily just take them out and start again.

Research has shown that species such as Whitebeam and Cherry do less damage whereas species such as Ash and Lime do the most damage to pavements and walkways.

I love the autumn leaves, but they can be a nightmare to slip on, especially when they’re wet and when they settle on iron inspection covers.

When a gust of wind blows the leaves into the air it can also be distracting for my guide dog Richie who is so sensitive to the smells and sounds around him.

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