The Veteran Oak in the Grounds of Ness Castle Primary School. Now to stay for the children and the world to enjoy for many years to come.

In Inverness, Scotland, there is a lot of new housing, and the Highland Council plan to build a brand new school on a green site at Ness Castle, North of Torbreck.

The site is well-suited to a school, which will be at the heart of the community for many years to come. In what will become the school grounds there are many trees, and at least three are especially valuable and noteworthy.

The Sessile Oak, about 200 years old, is a so-called “veteran”. The expert tree report which forms part of the planning application states that “These veterans are recognised for their importance ecologically, culturally and aesthetically, and can provide an irreplaceable contribution for many generations, if managed appropriately.”

Tall Scots Pine

“980” A fine landscape feature tree.
Browsing damage to bark on lower
stem, major deadwood present.

Impressive stature, major landscape feature, storm damage and loss of limbs, typical of age class, main fork union appears stable, first branch on west at 6m poor union with main stem and decay present. Very long over – extended major branch to the north west. Reccomend removal of branch to west and shortening of branch to northwest by approx 4m in length to obvious growing point.

Veteran Oak

Sessile Oak. called 5328 on the Tree Schedule.

An important veteran tree,
displaying all the typical
characteristics of its age class;
crown retrenchment, major
deadwood, multiple branch tear
wounds with associated epicormic growth. Large wound on main stem to south west soil level has been raised recently to the north-west. Tree with enormous potential. Not
presenting a current hazard, but
may require an public exclusion
zone if land use changes.

Scots Pine

This tree is described in the tree report as having “Low, squat and sturdy habit, well suited to retention within a development”.

However, when the trees were more thoroughly examined, this one was, sadly, found to have root rot, and has to be removed.

Insects

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/as-insect-populations-decline-scientists-are-trying-to-understand-why/

Veteran trees are vitally important for insects, and this is also one of the respects in which planting young trees cannot replace what is lost by destroying the old trees.

Insect populations are declining around the world. How worried should we be? https://ensia.com/features/insects-decline-armageddon-biodiversity/ via @ensiamedia

Plan of the new school, showing the position of the trees. The red crosses mean that a tree is to be destroyed. The plan is made up of these two PDFs also from Highland.gov website. “Tree Schedule” https://savetheoak.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/tree_protection_plan-1993069.pdf and https://savetheoak.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/tree_protection_plan-1993068.pdf

The Link to the planning application on the Highland Council’s website is here: https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=Q1IV3KIH0F300 . If the link doesn’t work, you can also find the right page by following instructions here:

In case the above link fails; comments from the Highland.gov Council Website: https://savetheoak.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/comments-and-objections-on-the-council-website.pdf
My Heartfelt thanks to every person who cares about the trees and submitted a comment to the Highland Council.

https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/files/828119D646B3385C4AE9DFD2D9659524/pdf/19_05203_FUL-TREE_SURVEY-1971451.pdf Tree Survey (including pictures of the trees in leaf)

About Us

We live in Inverness and found out about the plight of the trees in the grounds of Ness Castle Primary School by reading Highland.gov.uk

I was shocked to learn that a veteran oak, two scots pines and other lovely, mature trees were going to be destroyed, especially when they’re in the grounds of a primary school, where the children could benefit so much from having them close by, as well as the trees’ clear benefits in terms of biodiversity and climate.

This is in spite of the tree report, which states that the trees are irreplaceable and of value that should not be underestimated.

I contacted some friends with expertise in the subject and they immediately spotted problems with the planning application. In particular, the biodiversity statement was described by one ecologist as “utter garbage” and the reasons given for felling some of the trees were criticised by a forestry expert as being “Not an adequate reason for felling a tree”. Other friends with relevant expertise described the submission as “weak”.

It’s important to spend only what we can afford, and as a community and as a species, we can not afford to loose more veteran and mature trees. Our children will still be suffering this loss in terms of loss of biodiversity