News Update 2nd February 2017 – Tree Felling Work on Railway Embankment
Some residents and visitors to Port Sunlight may be aware of the recent tree felling work which has been taking place on the railway embankment near Greendale Road. The work is outside the Port Sunlight Village Trust land, but we’ve been able to find out a few more updates for residents who may be curious about the work.
The work has been commissioned by Network Rail in collaboration with the Wirral Council. The company working on the site is Railscape who are specialists in tree control and vegetation management across railways.
Railscape have been instructed to cut down all leaf fall trees close to the railway near Port Sunlight to reduce the number of leaves falling onto the line. The leaves get caught on the electrified area of the third rail which affects the performance of the railway. The area between Port Sunlight railway station and the railway bridge on Greendale Road has had all tree removed as they were sycamores which are the ones which cause the greatest problem with leaves falling onto the line. As a general rule, the oaks and willows will not be cut down and the birches will also remain wherever possible.
Railscape anticipate that the tree screen will not be so badly affected along the rest of Greendale Road as many of the trees are oaks and willows and will therefore not be removed. Some of the larger specimens will be crowned and, as expected, any dead or dangerous trees will be felled in the process regardless of their type.
As the area concerned is outside that of the village, Port Sunlight Village Trust cannot help directly, but the site manager for the work has suggested that they can be contacted on 0345 7114141 if there are any concerns not covered in this information.