Contractors are supposed to mark dates of watering on tree stakes
July 24, 2025
The opposition on Ealing Council has branded the current arrangements for tree care in the borough are ‘a scandal of epic proportions’ going so far to suggest that there may even be fraud in the management of new plantings
The Liberal Democrats say that residents have raised concerns that some contractors employed by the council may not be fulfilling agreed responsibilities, particularly with regard to the regular watering of newly planted trees.
They claim that residents across several areas of the borough have observed young trees being neglected, including instances where saplings appeared to be planted in sand and not watered during dry weather. It is widely understood that regular watering is essential during a tree’s “establishment phase,” typically the first one to three years following planting. During this time, consistent moisture is necessary for young trees to establish healthy root systems, with some requiring up to 50 litres of water per week in hot conditions.
The borough uses a monitoring system in which contractors are expected to write the date of each watering on a stake beside the tree. However, residents have reported multiple instances of stakes lacking entries, or dates being added retroactively. In some cases, residents claim to have witnessed contractors marking stakes without carrying out any watering. These allegations follow the dismissal of previous tree contractors in 2022 due to widespread complaints about underperformance.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Gary Busuttil, Opposition Spokesperson on Finance and Council Honesty, stated, “Sadly for residents, Ealing Labour seems to be repeating its failings time and again with no appropriate oversight or management of contractors resulting in a misuse of public funds which are going to line contractors’ pockets for services they do not provide! This is a scandal of epic proportions especially as our Council Taxes go up every year. Ealing Labour been in for 15 years and things have simply got worse for residents. This is a sign they have failed their residents as they are not getting the basic services like this right.”
A spokesperson for Ealing Council provided the following statement, “Due to the sharp increase in the number of trees planted since 2023, our contractors have faced challenges keeping up with the watering schedule – with over 5,000 trees requiring watering every fortnight. In response to the recent hot and dry weather, we have increased the watering frequency and all street trees are now being watered weekly.
“Contractors are required to write the date of each visit on the tree stake, which are checked during routine inspections and where they are missing the issue is raised with the contractor and payment may be withheld. Trees that die due to a lack of watering are replaced at the contractor’s cost, which happened in 16 cases last year and 2 this year.
“We are also grateful to residents who have joined our ‘Ealing Watering Champions’ scheme where more than 200 trees are receiving extra care from local volunteers. Find out more or sign up at www.treesforstreets.org.
“We are committed to improving how we manage our contractors and ensuring our trees are well cared for.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |