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Edited extract from a conversation between Peter Nicholson and Anna Best May 2004 at Transport For London Offices.

Anna
why so little green, I’m thinking about the history of the pleasure gardens

Peter
I can see that if you’re thinking in terms of a pleasure gardens it’s woefully little green, but we have tried to introduceŠ some trees, as many as we can, there’s more where there were none.

Anna
what’s the limitation on trees., is there a point where too many become problematic

Peter
Well it’s about road space. If we introduce it we have to maintain it, we have to dig a hole to put it in and every hole we dug as I explained we found something in it. As I say we’ve introduced green areas, shrubs and planting, but it’s the same with any road, if you’ve got an avenue of trees you’re doing well these days aren’t you?

Anna
yes, in a way my question is a general one, it would make pedestrian life a lot more pleasant, maybeŠ

Peter
well we’ve introduced as any as we feel we can

Anna
in terms of space, is that the main criteria

Peter
yes there again you see that tree has to compete for footway space, with pedestrian and also has to compete below groundŠwe’ve introduced root containment , we don’t want to compromise buildings or adjacent servicesŠ

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Fact Sheets

No.12: Public Attitudes to Transport Survey 2002: London highlights————————————————————————————————————
Interviews were conducted with 421 people in London.