A healthy and well-maintained tree is usually a thing of beauty, as well as providing soil stability and helping to clean the air through its natural processes of carbon dioxide to oxygen exchange. So, if at all possible, chopping down trees should be avoided.
Valid reasons for felling a tree
There are times when trees do structural damage to property, roads, pavements or walls, and then felling can be considered. Also, if the tree is diseased, dead or dying, a tree can pose a risk to life and safety. In all cases, arboriculture officer (tree expert) from the local council should be contacted first as some trees, especially old ones, which are usually quite large, can have a tree protection order on. It is illegal to fell a tree which is under a protection order and it is the responsibility of the person wishing to fell the tree to make sure it isn’t under an order first; the penalties are severe.
The law on felling trees is summarised here:
Avoiding chopping down trees
There are many ways to avoid the final decision to fell a tree. The first is often neglected – planning before planting. People often like to plant a tree, but the end result of a huge tree that grows too close to structures, driveways or roads tends to be far from their minds, and a common neighbours’ dispute is trees belonging to one neighbour blocking out the light of another neighbour, so planning and thinking of the future is a good start.
Maintenance is an important way of avoiding needless felling. Trees that are pruned, pollard or treated to remove or prevent disease, fungus and pests will be healthy and less likely to need removing. If you do feel the need to chop down the tree, here is an article about felling trees in your garden: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2018/03/tree-cutting-permission/
Why it’s important to avoid felling trees
Trees are a vital part of the ecosystem, they are the reason the earth doesn’t go up in flames. Trees recycle carbon dioxide and exchange it for oxygen, enabling us to breathe. The more trees that are felled, the worse the environment becomes.
Trees also provide a home to limitless wildlife, from birds to rodents and insects, as well as providing shade, food and safety to larger animals.
The more trees that are chopped down, the more we lose wildlife and nature. Trees provide structure and shape in any landscape and without them, the landscape, even in a garden, loses texture, and without the trees, we also lose the shade on summer days, so it is always best to get an expert in arboriculture in to treat and trim trees rather than having them removed just because they have grown and there is less light or they are throwing leaves all over everything or the birds are dive bombing you.
Once a tree is removed, it is never coming back, and in the summer, without that shade, you may regret it, you may miss the beauty of that tree, and even if you plant a new one, they take decades to grow to full height, so you may regret if you have a tree felled. If possible, see the good in the tree/s and don’t chop them down.