Pollution takes its toll on town’s 100-year-old trees

Trees that have been part of Midsomer Norton’s street scene for 100 years will have to be felled.

Lyme trees that line the River Somer running along the town’s High Street have died after grit used to de-ice roads and decades of pollutants have taken their toll.

Mark Cassidy, arboricultural officer at Bath and North East Somerset Council, visited the town to see what could be done to save any healthy trees and to consider the best options for replacements.

Mr Cassidy said the downfall of the trees was the inhospitable environment they existed in, adding that the salt becomes more problematic for trees when they are planted in paving.

He said: “Pollutants from dirtier periods in the past combined with the harsh winter we have just had, which saw tonnes of salt put on to roads and pavements has tipped them over the edge. We have not seen it anywhere else in Bath and the same trees planted next to the town hall in Midsomer Norton are not suffering the same problem.”

It was suggested the more hardy and salt tolerant London plain would become the replacement trees, which will be planted during the winter. He was also keen to point out that pollutants from the river should no longer be a problem as it is cleaner today than it has been in the past when environmental standards were not as high.

Paul Myers, secretary of the Midsomer Norton Society, who joined Mr Cassidy on his visit to the town, said the society was keen to ensure trees remained to frame the river and that there would be additional trees to fill the gaps where trees had once been.