a day ago
Hundreds of trees die after Labour-led council ‘fails to water them'
A spokesman for the Labour-led authority told the BBC the tree deaths were caused by 'exceptionally dry and warm weather'.
They said: 'The trees were planted earlier this year and were watered when they went in and whilst they were getting established.
'Sadly, despite our best endeavours throughout the season, because of the exceptionally dry and warm weather we have had this year, a higher than normal number of saplings have failed.'
Clive Rickaby, a Merrybent resident, accused the council of 'tick box behaviour' and not caring about the long-term future of the trees.
'A complete waste of taxpayers' money'
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Rickaby said: 'It is absolutely ridiculous, just a complete waste of taxpayers' money.
'If they don't have a big enough team to water them, then they should not plant them.'
The council has committed to removing the dead trees and trying to replace them next planting season.
The UK has just endured its fourth heatwave of the summer, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees last week, while there was only 2mm of rainfall overall in the week ending Aug 12.
While the heatwave amplified current drought conditions, there has been no change to the Environment Agency's drought status this week.
'Prolonged dry weather'
The government has classified the North East, where Darlington is, as in a period of 'prolonged dry weather'. Nearby regions of Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester have been classified as being in ' drought '.
More than 8.5 million households are currently also affected by hosepipe bans.
South East Water, Southern Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water have all issued hosepipe bans due to a lack of rain this summer, following the second driest spring on record for England and the sixth overall across the UK.
There is currently no hosepipe ban in Darlington.
It comes as experts have claimed that planting trees is a good way of keeping cities cool ahead of future heatwaves.
Scientists believe that planting more trees could cut air temperatures by up to 5C.
'Increase tree coverage'
Philip Jones, a professor from the Welsh School of Architecture, said temperature reductions from tree coverage were 'significant'.
The UK climate change committee previously reported that heat-related deaths could rise from 3,000 in 2022 to more than 10,000 in an average year by 2050.
Professor Jones said that to cool an area by 4-5C, 'we've got to increase the tree coverage to somewhere in the order of 30-40 per cent'.
A Darlington Borough spokesman said:
'The trees were planted earlier this year and were watered when they went in and whilst they were getting established.
'Sadly, despite our best endeavours throughout the season, because of the exceptionally dry and warm weather we have had this year, a higher than normal number of saplings have failed.
'We will take out those that have died and will look at replacing them, where we can, in the next planting season.'
