• THE current drought has led Thames Water to introduce a hosepipe ban on Wednesday this week. As currently worded, the ban affects Westminster City Council’s ability to water our newly-planted trees.

If the council is unable to water trees, and we do not have sufficient rainfall, there are likely to be significant losses of new trees and a damaging impact on local streets and on the council’s greening agenda and climate emergency response.

So we have submitted representations to Thames Water to ask that the watering of newly-planted trees is exempt from the ban, on the grounds that new trees are part of the solution to sustainable water management and climate change-induced drought and high temperatures.

Our tree contractors currently fill up their truck-mounted bowser for tree watering from a borehole at their depot, which would be exempt from the ban.

But this has to be topped up during the watering rounds from standpipes in Westminster, which would fall within the ban as currently worded.

We will do all we can to protect Westminster’s trees at this very difficult time of unprecedented high temperatures and little rainfall.

CLLR PAUL DIMOLDENBERG
Cabinet Member for City Management & Air Quality