Refrain from tree pruning for 3 years: Mykolaiv Housing and Communal Services Department has prepared a proposal for the session

City council members are proposed to adopt a decision to impose a 3-year moratorium on tree pruning in Mykolaiv.

The relevant draft decision was developed by the Department of Housing and Communal Services of the city council. It is to be considered at the next meeting of the city council session, according to NikVesti.

For 3 years, enterprises, institutions and organisations will be «recommended to refrain from rejuvenating tree pruning» in the city, the document says.

However, tree pruning will be allowed if this need is indicated in the green space inspection report and provided that

• this document is signed by members of the commission for determining the condition of green spaces and representatives of the State Ecological Inspectorate of the South-Western District (Mykolaiv and Odesa regions);
• this act will be agreed in writing with the State Ecological Inspectorate of the South-Western District (Mykolaiv and Odesa regions).

Prior to this, the Department of Housing and Communal Services expressed the opinion that even if a three-year moratorium on tree trimming in Mykolaiv is adopted, it will be a political and populist decision«rather than a legal one», as there is no legal provision in the law that guarantees liability for violations.

It should be reminded that in August 2024, Mykolaiv was offered to introduce a moratorium on rejuvenation pruning for 3 years. The only exceptions would be cases approved by the State Environmental Inspectorate of the South-Western District.

Alla Riazhskikh, a deputy of the Mykolaiv Regional Council from the «European Solidarity» party, addressed the city authorities with this proposal in a Facebook post.

Alla Riazhskikh recalled that almost a year ago, a recommendation was made at the regional level to adopt the experience of other cities and create rules for tree crowns and the management of green spaces. The city authorities and the Department of Housing and Communal Services responded to the proposal, but the specialists of «Mykolaiv Parks» preferred to continue «rejuvenating» pruning.

Tree pruning in Mykolaiv

At the beginning of February 2024, environmentalists asked the city authorities to develop a programme of rules for the care of green spaces in Mykolaiv. It should be noted that Mykolaiv has not yet developed a concept for the development of green areas, and the last inventory of plantations was carried out in 2018.

As you know, various campaigns are currently being announced to plant trees in Mykolaiv. For example, in October 2023, young pine trees were planted in Peremohy Park, and in December, linden trees were planted along Tsentralnyi Avenue.

Prior to that, in March 2022, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said that poplars would be cut down in Mykolaiv to build dugouts and heat people at checkpoints. Later, the director of the city council's housing and utilities department, Dmytro Bezdolnyi, clarified that the cut poplars were used not only for fortifications but also for heating social institutions and hospitals.

Already in May 2023, the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» ordered 5 million hryvnias worth of services for tree removal, sanitary and rejuvenation pruning, stump uprooting and tree planting in the city. It was about planting 50 young maple trees. At that time, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, asked the citizens whether it was worth buying tree and shrub seedlings.

Later, the municipal enterprise «Parks» explained the need to prune plane trees on Soborna Street, which Mykolaiv residents called «vandalism».

Scandalous tree trimming on Soborna Street in Mykolaiv

As you know, the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» has been pruning plane trees in the centre of Mykolaiv for three days in a row. The utility company assured us that the trees would not lose their decorative quality. However, representatives of the environmental inspectorate called the police to draw up a report. The director of the utility «Mykolaiv Parks», Dmytro Chuchmai, said that the pruning of trees between Spaska and Velyka Morska is part of the planned work carried out in accordance with the approved schedule and the decision of the executive committee. On 7 January, the public and the environmental inspectorate managed to suspend the work of the utility company.

However, on the morning of 8 January, the utility company resumed tree trimming. Police officers were called to the scene. Later, the director of the utility company «Mykolaiv Parks» arrived there. In the conversation, he noted that the police could not ensure the work of the utility company and were obstructing them. In addition, Chuchmai explained that the trees on Soborna Street were being cut at the request of local residents.

According to environmentalists, the amount of damage caused is 65,000 hryvnias.

However, Mykolaiv environmentalists have a radically different view of the situation. For example, environmentalist Diana Krysinska speaks of a gross violation of environmental standards. She claims that the municipal enterprise cuts healthy branches of plane trees that are more than 30 years old without permission.

On 9 January, under the post NikVesti, former Mykolaiv mayor Tamila Buhaienko wrote on social media that she had tried to convince employees of «Mykolaiv Parks» to stop pruning plane trees on Soborna Street, that it was a mockery of trees.

On 9 January, the environmental commission of the Mykolaiv Regional Council met to discuss the situation with the scandalous pruning of plane trees on Soborna Street. However, representatives of the Mykolaiv City Council and the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» ignored the meeting.

Inna Tymchenko, an associate professor at the Department of Gardening and Ecology at Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University, believes that the formative pruning carried out on the trees can lead to their gradual death. This will also worsen the quality of the air that residents breathe.

On Saturday, 11 January, a protest against tree pruning was held in Mykolaiv on the pedestrianised Soborna Street. The participants signed an appeal to the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, and the deputy corps, which Andrii Yantar plans to deliver at the session. The appeal is also planned to be handed over to the Ministry of Ecology and other responsible structures with a request to assess the damage caused to the environment by the actions of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks».