Environmentalist calls for tree protection law

An environmentalist wants politicians to introduce a tree protection law in Jersey, after videos of trees being cut down in St Martin were shared online.

Sheena Brockie said she "felt sick" watching the videos of UK contractors working at Fliquet. The videos have since been removed from social media.

The environment minister has promised greater protection for the island's trees in future, but said the work was properly authorised and did not breach any planning or wildlife laws.

A tree surgeon co-ordinating the project defended the work. He said the videos took efforts to restore land - after it was devastated by Storm Ciaran - out of context. The contractors have been approached for comment.

Ms Brockie said she did not believe the work at Fliquet was a reforestation project.

She said it looked like "every single piece of nature that lived on that land has been decimated completely".

"It still makes me feel very anxious that this is allowed to happen," she said.

She said it was an example of what could happen to trees in Jersey without tighter regulation.

In 2024, efforts to introduce a tree protection law were scrapped by the States Assembly, following criticism that the proposals were too strict.

Joel Freire was the Jersey tree surgeon who co-ordinated the work at Fliquet. He said it was a shame the videos had been received "in the wrong way" by the public, although he sympathised with some of the criticism.

He said the UK contractors were hired to carry out the toughest parts of the job and the work shown in the video was removal of unsafe trees and mulching of vegetation to eradicate invasive species.

He said: "What the client's done has restored an amazing part of Jersey and left it to recover.

"It wasn't that it was for development or anything like that, it was purely to reinstate it as it should be."

Mr Freire said, for the most part, the island has many measures in place to make sure trees are looked after, such as wildlife trigger lists required under the wildlife law.

He said politicians did not need to introduce any new laws, but they did need to sufficiently maintain and implement the island's protected tree register and communicate better with the industry.

"I think if there was a stronger relationship between government and the tree industry, there'd be much more protection," he added.

Environment minister Deputy Steve Luce said officers from three different government departments had investigated the work at Fliquet and were satisfied the owners and contractors had operated within the island's laws.

He said: "The owner, I think, has acted properly. He's put everything in place that he needed to do.

"I'm sure he's got a plan moving forward and I'm sure in a number of years' time it will look beautiful again."

He said he was expanding the members on the States' tree advisory board and asking them to come up with new plans to further protect trees in Jersey.

He said the tree listing process was currently "a bit clunky" as it did not work particularly quickly and did not have enough trees on it.

However, he said he wanted to find a different solution to the previous tree law proposals that would have required the removal of "just about every tree" on the island to have a planning application.

Chair of the environment scrutiny panel Deputy Hilary Jeune said she wanted ministerial work to protect Jersey trees completed as quickly as possible, preferably before the end of the current political term.

She said until the work was finished, trees were not being protected as well as they should be.

"There could be some irreversible damage done to trees right now," she said.

She urged the minister to learn lessons from the previous tree protection legislation and to be as thorough as possible going forward.

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