Local Labour MP Nick Raynsford has today condemned the decision by Transport for London to buy trees from Germany to plant at the side of the Blackwall Tunnel approach road.

Trees were due to be planted on the embankment at the back of numbers 2-98 Tunnel Avenue SE10 before the end of the year. But the planting has been delayed until late January or early February, because TFL has decided to buy German saplings which can’t be delivered in time.

“While I welcome planting of trees to shield residents of Tunnel Avenue from the noise and traffic fumes of the A102, why couldn’t TFL have bought British saplings from a homegrown tree nursery?” says Nick. “Boris Johnson is encouraging people to ‘buy local’ to help London’s economy recover from the recession. But it seems he cannot even persuade TFL – for which he is responsible - to buy British trees”.

In February 2008, the then Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone introduced a Responsible Procurement Policy to make it easier for small, local companies to supply goods and services to TFL and other bodies under the Mayor’s control. “Under the current Mayor, TFL seems to have forgotten about sourcing trees locally”, says Nick.

“The not-for-profit Meantime Nursery, part of the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park, is just half a mile away from Tunnel Avenue,” adds Nick. “With so many excellent tree nurseries in and around London, l can’t understand why TFL needs to go to Germany to buy trees. At the new Olympic Park, most of the trees being planted are British-grown, and I hope TFL can take a leaf out of their book in future”.