Kirkby Stephen’s Jubilee Park has an “exciting future”, with a number of options open for how it can be managed going forward, a meeting heard.
Speaking at the Kirkby Stephen annual town meeting, Luke Steer, of Treescapes Consultancy, said the park, which is a woodland, was a “fantastic habitat”.
Mr Steer said the town council had commissioned a topographic survey to be carried out at Jubilee Park which had plotted every single tree and provides a “snapshot in time”.
It was around 1887 that the area was laid out as a park to commemorate the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria.
“When we were doing the tree survey we tried to assess whether the trees were the original trees that were planted when the park was first designed at the end of the 19th Century,” said Mr Steer, who added that he did not think there were any trees which were already on the land which were incorporated into the park when it was designed, constructed and put together.
Mr Steer’s report says that during both world wars, and the 1930s depression, Jubilee Park received minimal management and many trees colonised previously open areas which further increased its wooded character, to the detriment of open space.
In total, 387 live trees were counted, with 117 – equating to 30 per cent – forming part of the original design.
The survey also plotted the trees which had been planted since it was first designed, as well as those which have grown as a result of natural regeneration.
“Some of them are in great places where we can cope with trees and be really nice, but some of them may not be in the best places,” said Mr Steer.
In particular, there were some sycamores along the boundary wall which were said to pose a risk – that when they grow fatter could push over that wall.
Looking to the future of the park, he said there were a number of trees which give its custodians options.
Mr Steer asked: “What do you want the park to provide for this wonderful town?
“It’s great. We have got a wonderful selection of species in there going from ash and beech to birch, cherry and hawthorn (19 in total), so that means if a nasty tree pest or disease comes along, we have got robustness.”
He added: “It’s exciting. We have got an idea where the park has come from, we know where the original designed trees are and we can start to think about where we would like to take it through.”
One thing which will need thinking about is what action will be required to save the boundary wall which is “at risk of collapsing,” the meeting was told.
