The Housing and Utilities Department has endorsed the pruning of plane trees in the center of Mykolaiv.

The Department of Housing and Communal Services supported the pruning of plane trees in the center of Mykolaiv

Representatives from the Department of Housing and Communal Services endorsed the tree pruning being conducted by the Municipal Enterprise "Mykolaiv Parks." Department Director Dmytro Bezdolny is confident that the plane trees will recover.

This information was revealed during a briefing held on Friday, January 18.

Director Dmytro Bezdolny stated that they have examples of trees that underwent formative pruning about 8 years ago, and those trees are currently in good condition, which is why he supports the pruning performed by the municipal enterprise. According to him, this is a “global practice” to carry out formative pruning on mature trees, especially considering the large number of allergy sufferers who cannot go out onto the main street of the city during the plane trees' flowering period.

- I will share a bit about my position. We already have such practice. I won’t even provide examples from 2023-24 on how the trees have performed, how they continue to grow and thrive. We had similar pruning nearly 7-8 years ago. The trees are currently growing and in good condition; nothing has happened to them, and so on. So, if some specialists claim that they won’t recover now, there is a neighboring street where you can see for yourself. And this is a global practice. In some places, these trees are just being planted and are formed from a young age, which looks different. However, there are many places, for example, Italy, where trees are also pruned. Since they are already large, they need to be shaped at this quite mature age. Then, after a period, say 3-4-5 years, we see that a kind of “bump” forms due to the fact that they are pruned every year, allowing new branches to grow continuously. But due to pruning, they don’t have the opportunity to bear fruit that causes allergic reactions. There are many discussions about ensuring everyone's rights are monitored and that everyone should be equal. But for some reason, everyone forgets that there are also allergy sufferers, and if they cannot go out onto the central street of the city when these “cones” are blooming and falling, perhaps that is also not right. Moreover, the pruning they conducted is formative. At some point, it needed to be done, and it had to start from somewhere, - said the department director.

Additionally, Dmytro Bezdolny emphasized that if harm was caused to the trees, the dendrology specialists of the "Mykolaiv Parks" enterprise should be held accountable for it.

- If their dendrology specialists miscalculated and caused harm somewhere, they should take responsibility. That’s what specialists are for, - the official concluded.

Activists and eco-inspection staff opposed the pruning, calling it a deliberate destruction of the plane trees. Employees of the Municipal Enterprise "Mykolaiv Parks" claimed they were conducting the pruning according to their approved plan. The police were called to the scene to intervene in the conflict, and Deputy Alla Ryazhskykh from the regional council also arrived.

A meeting of the deputy commission also took place in the regional council.