Have Your Say on Harrowden Rd Street Trees Consultation (Roche Way)

You may have seen that, following our letter to them, NNC have announced a new consultation on the felling of 4 trees on Harrowden Rd.

While we welcome the fact that the Council have accepted that their previous consultations were flawed (we have had to write to them twice since Nov 2025), we are disappointed that NNC are still planning to fell these healthy, mature maple and beech trees.

The consultation commenced on 2^nd Feb and closes on 1^st March 2026. Details can be found here: https://northnorthants.citizenspace.com/community-safety/roche-way-tree/

The insurer’s report is called “Highways disclosure” and can be found here: https://www.northnorthants.gov.uk/conservation-and-protection/tree-protection-and-high-hedges/duty-consult-felling-street-trees 

We have also uncovered other information, which is not on the NNC portal. This can be viewed on WWAG’s website here: https://saveourtrees.co.uk. and – (Please see this additional information the section below).

NNC have said that should the proposal be upheld, the trees would be felled within 8 weeks of the 1^st March deadline.

Under the duty to consult, all responses to the consultation must be considered before a decision is taken. We are therefore urging supporters to respond to the consultation.  

While the trees are reported to be implicated in the subsidence of a neighbouring property, we have a number of initial concerns:

1. There is no proper consideration of alternatives to felling, most importantly whether a root barrier could be installed or the property underpinned;
2. The trees are healthy and mature (approximately 100 years old) with significant environmental and amenity value.
3. There has been no attempt to assess this value of the trees (such as a CAVAT valuation) when considering whether felling them is a sensible and proportionate solution;
4. According to the insurer’s report, the property sits on clay soil and has shallow foundations. Despite this, there would appear to be no consideration of whether felling the trees will provide a lasting and effective solution to the subsidence problem, or if the property in fact needs underpinning (something that is more expensive for insurers, which is why they often push for cheaper alternatives first).
5. There has been no consideration of whether felling the trees will result in heave (the opposite of subsidence), which could result in further damage to the property; and
6. NNC do not appear to be applying their own recently updated (20^th January 2026) Tree Management policy, which states that they will push for ‘engineering solutions‘ to avoid felling healthy trees.

If these concerns are not addressed, the trees may be felled needlessly and the subsidence issues facing the property may not be effectively resolved.

We are also asking for donations to help fund an expert report and other potential actions.

You can donate to WWAG to help in this case:

(a) via a bank transfer – please email Marion at marion@wwag.org.uk and I can provide the bank account details. Please put ‘Harrowden Rd Trees’ in the subject line

(b) if you wish to pay by card please call Jonathan on 07954 082802 and he will arrange a card payment with you over the phone

(c) cash donations can be made either by contacting Marion via email or by visiting Wellingborough’s ECO HUB in person on Tuesday’s (10am to 6pm) or Thursday’s (10am to 2pm), or Sunday’s (12 noon to 3pm) each week

To help us to keep all contributions for this case separate from funds for the Walks Trees funds, please mark your donation as ‘Harrowden Rd Trees’. If you have any queries, please email Marion and she will endeavour to help. Thank you.

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Background to WWAG’s involvement

Since this case came to our attention we have found there are many cases like this happening around the Country, where healthy mature trees are being felled after having been implicated in subsidence cases affecting nearby properties, by insurance companies

In many of these cases, healthy trees are being felled ‘in the hope’ that subsidence issues will reduce, and measures which may better help the home and homeowners, such as  ‘engineering solutions’ are often not being considered, such as; installing tree root barriers or underpinning structures.

We are hoping through working on this case, we can better understand if this is a common problem locally and what appropriate and sustainable solutions can be deployed, other than felling.  If so, this may better help homeowners to have the most effective solutions for their home, help the Council and Council Taxpayers, to reduce costs, and save and much loved trees, vital to us in so many ways.

We are also concerned that should these trees be needlessly felled, and the Council not be challenged on this, that this would set a worrying precedent locally. 

There are many street trees lining the streets of Wellingborough, and allowing such claims to go unchallenged, or not at least exploring other viable alternatives to felling, could see many other healthy trees also coming under threat.

How WWAG Plan to Help

Up to this point Wellingborough Walks Action Group’s (WWAG) focus has been working to save the threatened protected trees on the Walks on London Rd.

However, given the nature of this case, and our discovery of NNC’s poor delivery on the consultation process so far, our Committee felt we could step forward to see if we can help.

Treating the Neighbours to Harrowden Rd Trees with Respect:

Unlike the situation with the protected trees on The Walks, a household is being directly affected in this situation and is experiencing distress because of it. We believe this situation has been affecting them for a number of years and understandably they will wish to see the matter resolved as soon as possible. It’s helpful to be aware too that they may have no choice in the action that is being suggested. Given this, we ask that people treat the family with respect and compassion.

Any one of us could be in their situation, and with ever increasing likelihood of subsidence because of the longer hotter / drier summers and wetter winters which don’t mix well with the largely clayey soil of Wellingborough, many more of us could be affected in future. So please if you are commenting publicly, be kind and considerate to the householders.

Thank you, as ever, for your support to help  ‘SAVE THE TREES’ around our town.

Best wishes

Wellingborough Walks Action Group Committee

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Additional Information in this case

To help us understand what is happening in the subsidence case affecting a neighbouring property, WWAG and other interested parties, submitted Environmental Freedom of Information Requests (EIRs) to NNC. We received a number of pieces of information. As this information was gained from NNC in this way we are allowed to share it.

Please see below additional relevant information in this case that may help inform your deliberations and support any comments you wish to make to the Council via their Street Tree Consultation in this case.

We hope you find this helpful.

Item 1 – A summary of all the information we have received

Other Relevant Items Received from NNC in this matter

Items from EIR Request provided on 17th December to WWAG colleagues. This includes the Insurance Companies’ assessors report and the ‘Level Monitoring Report’ mentioned on the summary sheet above at No’s 1 and 2. Other emails listed in the summary are also visible in this ‘bundle’. NB – Some emails below which are passing items on to others are not noted in the summary above.

Email from AC – see item 9 on summary chart above